Tales of Vesperia: Generations
by Blue The Writer
Summary: It is several years after the events of the game. Now it's time for their decedents to go on a journey themselves. How different is their world from when their parents grew up?
1. Chapter 1

Hello again everyone! Here is the third story I will be working on. And just a heads up to newcomers, this is a sequel to my last Vesperia fanfic, Ring A Bell. So there will be some OC characters and references to plot points from that fic that will show up in this. But I don't think knowledge of my last fic will be needed to enjoy this one. This story is all about the next generation. But if you're a newcomer and are confused by something that has something to do with the last fic, like what happened to Zaphias or something, feel free to message me and I can help clear it up. Or you could always read the fic yourself lol.

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

 **Tales of Vesperia: Generations**

Chapter 1: New Faces 

The ruins were dark though enough light from the scattered openings from the surface made it easy to see what was before them. However an adventurer would have to be careful on these paths. All the moisture in the air made the ground and stones slippery.

But that didn't stop a young man from jumping down off a path to another one just a couple feet below. He inspected the area to see if there were any monsters. Two mismatching swords were on his belt and one hand rested on one of them. The youth had wild dark hair that was medium in length that looked like he needed to run a comb through it a few times. He wore a white shirt under a thin indigo jacket and dark pants and boots. Under the left sleeve was the glimmer of a golden bracelet.

Seeing no monsters outside of poliwigles, he looked back up at where he had jumped and saw another young man had started to climb down. Sadly, he seemed to be frozen in place. The one at the bottom put his hands around his mouth and shouted to the other, "Come on, Rune buddy. It's not that far."

The young man named Rune, moved his head just enough to look down at his friend. "Raiden, are you sure there aren't any monsters?" He said in voice that made him sound like he was going through puberty all over again.

Raiden let out a very loud and tired sigh, hoping his friend would hear him. "Yes, it's fine. Now hurry up before we lose all our light." At the pace Rune was going, they could end up spending the night in the ruin. Maybe if he told Rune that he might hurry up a bit since he's afraid of the dark.

"O-ok, I-I'm c-c-coming," Rune stuttered and his foot started to move down to another place holder. Just as he was about to put his weight on it, the rock he held onto broke off and he lost his balance. Rune let out a very terrified cry until he landed on his behind in front of Raiden. He groaned and rolled to his side as he moved the hood from his red mage's cloak off his head. Both the adventure's pack on his shoulders and the small pouches on his belts all stayed intact from the fall. Rune had short brown hair and googles over his eyes that he wore instead of his glasses when the two of them ventured out like this.

Raiden held his hand out for his friend. "You okay Rune?" He asked. "Nothing broken?" It would be a pain if he had to carry Rune all the way back to Arie Hollow. Not to mention how scary Rune's mother would react to them sneaking off and getting injured.

Rune grabbed Raiden's hand and the twin swordsmen easily lifted him to his feet. Rune was surprisingly light. "I'm fine," he answered and started to make sure he had everything in his pack. Then he started to dust himself and said, "We should just leave. We're going to get in trouble."

Raiden patted Rune on the back, maybe a little too roughly. "Come on buddy, we've come this far. Besides, you're the one that wanted to find an old blastia."

Rune had talked about wanting to examine a blastia. All the old blastia bases had been converted to other useful tools for the new technology. So the best chance to study one was to go to an old ruin and look for one that hadn't been excavated.

"You just wanted to go on an adventure," Rune moaned. "And then dragged me along so you'd have a good enough excuse." He hung his head in defeat.

Raiden moved around Rune and started pushing him forward so they could continue moving. "Just think about what it'll be like to find an old blastia and then you can do…whatever it is that you do with something that doesn't work anymore," Raiden tried to persuade. He did think it would be cool to see an old blastia that had been used for daily use during their parents' youth. Besides a bodi blastia. But he wasn't sure what his friend was planning to do with it. Rune had tried to explain it once, but Raiden couldn't comprehend.

But if he was really being honest, he just wanted an excuse to leave the village. It would also do Rune some good too. He needed to get out from between a book.

His friend didn't say anything. Rune just moaned about how his mother was going to kill him, but offered no resistance. If they could get back before their parents even noticed that they had ditched school, then everything would work out.

Eventually Rune started walking on his own although he made it very clear he didn't like it. His head hung down and his feet were dragging with his arms hanging loosely by his sides. Raiden began taking the lead just in case they did run into a monster that wanted to fight. Rune was liable to wet himself if he was startled and came face to face with a monster.

"How much further do we have to go before we head home?" Rune asked.

Raiden thought about it for a moment. When would be a good time? The Dwemer Ruins had been excavated for blastia for decades. So the top levels wouldn't have any. "I guess when we go deeper and actually find a blastia," Raiden answered him.

There was a loud moan from Rune, "Do you know the odds of the two of us finding one after mages and guilds have already searched." Then his voice started growing more hysterical. "This is so dangerous. Even professional archeologist get killed from cave-ins and monsters. Not to mention the injuries from falls and other things that are unpredictable."

"Uncle Karol was twelves when he joined guilds and did all sorts of dangerous thing. This is nothing," Raiden pointed.

"Yes, I'm sure my mother will love to hear how I'm like Karol," Rune muttered.

"We'll just go a little deeper and then we'll head back home. Sound good?" Raiden offered.

"Fine. Let's just hope that we don't run into-" Rune didn't finish his sentence. The ground beneath them vibrated a bit and they could feel the wind rush against their backs like something just fell behind them.

The two friends looked back and saw that it was a giant frog monster. Normally they only grew to an adult's waist, but this one was taller than them. Rune let out a started cry and fell backwards. Raiden just stared in awe at the monster's size. "That's one big frog," he commented.

"That thing might eat us and you're admiring it," Rune snapped.

"It's just a frog, it's not going to eat us."

"Are you saying it's not going to hurt us?"

"Definitely not saying that," Raiden said as he grabbed Rune's pack and jumped back in time to avoid the frog's arm that was swiping at where they had been. "It's still trying to get rid of us. I guess it thinks we're in it territory."

Rune stood up and clasped his gloved hands together. The various charms at the end of his gloves jingled together as some formulas began to glow on his gloves. "So we need to show it that we're the superior ones," Rune stated. His voice was still a little bit shaky but he always got a confidence boost when he could use his magic.

"Exactly," Raiden said as he drew his two weapons. He glanced at their terrain and noticed that there were some rocks that he could easily jump on to get higher up. "I'll distract it while you get the spell ready for the opening. The usual strategy."

"Alright, just be careful," Rune shouted out as an orangish tint magic circle appeared below his feet.

Raiden dashed toward the monster's side with his swords that began glowing blue. While he was still a distance away, he swung both swords to release the arte. " _Azure Edge_ ," Raiden shouted as the blue energy was released from his blades to a descent size ball of energy. It hit the monster right in the side and it managed to pull all his attention on Raiden.

So the young swordsmen ran toward the rocks with the frog hoping behind him. As soon as he jumped onto the rock, Rune was ready for his part. " _Stalagmite_ ," Raiden heard Rune shout out. A magic circle appeared underneath the monster and the earth beneath the monster suddenly shot up, making the frog airborne for a brief moment.

Raiden quickly readjusted his swords before he leapt toward the monster and spun his body to execute his next arte. " _Tempest_ ," he said as he felt himself spinning around faster. Too fast actually. He couldn't see what was going on anymore. But he did feel his weapons connect with something.

 _Crap, how do I stop_? Raiden worried as the arte finished and he felt himself falling. His body was still twisting in the air and he couldn't really tell what was up. Eventually he landed face first with the ground. Raiden quickly pushed himself up in case the monster wasn't gone and ignored the throbbing in his face. He really needed to work on the landing.

But he got up in time to watch the giant frog limping away with the injuries they gave him. He apparently gave the monster a deep wound on its hind legs. Raiden released a sigh. At least it all worked out in the end, even if he did botch the finish. He looked down at his swords to see some blood on them. He very quickly tried to clean them with his sleeve. He'd get a long lecture from his mother if she saw their state.

"Raiden," Rune called out as he hurried over to his friend. "Are you okay?" He was clearly worried that he may have hurt himself with the fall.

"Of course," Raiden said with a grin as he slid the swords back into their scabbard. "That was awesome Rune, I'd say that was your best spell-"

Raiden didn't finish his sentence because Rune kicked his leg. "Idiot," Rune told him flatly as Raiden clutched his shin. "Why did you have to make the last move so flashy? You could have injured yourself. You might not have been able to walk. Then I would have had to carry you back home and we both know I wouldn't get us very far because of my lack of muscle mass. Then we'd be trapped down here until the monsters decide to eat us." He said all of that in just a few short breaths. His face was even red from the lack of oxygen he was getting.

As Rune was catching his breath, Raiden just gave his friend a tired look. "You're just over reacting, like you always do. We're both fine. What's the point of worrying over it now?"

"Maybe because you'll repeat it and it won't end so well next time," Rune muttered as he began tapping his foot in frustration. The action made Rune look more like his mother than he already did.

"You worry too much," Raiden told him. "I mean, what are the chances that we're going to run into a monster like that again?"

"There's no way it was natural. It must have mutated when the environment's whole system was changing," Rune muttered. "Chances are low of encountering something like that again."

Raiden patted Rune on the shoulder and started moving him along their path. "Exactly. And next time we're on one of our little excursions I'll be ready because I will have mastered that arte by then," he told him with a wide grin.

Rune readjusted his googles. "Yes, but then you'll want to try a new arte and we'll be stuck in the same predicament again," he complained. He was clearly imagining Raiden trying a new arte and possibly getting a more serious injury. He was still dragging his feet as they were walking. They would be here all night at this pace.

"Come on, you're the same way when it comes to spells," Raiden pointed out. When his friend mastered a new spell, he would run up to Raiden at school the next day to show him the formula for the spell. Even though Raiden didn't understand any of that, seeing Rune's excitement was contagious. It made Raiden want to practice more and master more moves. They've mastered the same number of artes. Although if Raiden had stuck the landing with his last arte he would have pulled ahead.

"Yeah, but when I'm working on a spell I do it in a controlled environment. Not when we're out here and our lives depend on it," Rune argued.

"Well that's how you know if it works is when you try it on an opponent."

"I'm done talking to you on this," Rune muttered as rubbed his head. He always did say that Raiden was big source of his headaches.

Raiden pulled at Rune's arm so he would speed up a little bit. "Good, then let's get to searching for blastia."

He heard Rune groan more at that and that only made Raiden grin. They didn't go much further before Rune began to suggesting they give this crazy idea up. "Raiden, can't was just call this quits? We're going to get into trouble when we get back if we don't get back soon."

"All the more reason to search more. Besides, I told my mom that we were going study. That'll buy us a little more time once school ends."

"And she bought that?" Rune exclaimed.

Raiden thought back to last night. When he had told his mother, she had that sparkle in her eye she always got when she was excited and had even made extra snacks for their study session. Then this morning she had wished him luck. "Yeah, she bought it," he said but was starting to feel incredibly guilty. She was going to be so disappointed with his grades. He hated lying to her. His mother just always had an innocent look and the thought of seeing her sad because of him was enough to break his heart. But he never thought about the effects of his actions until later. Like when it was too late.

His parents always said he was a here and now kind of kid. And that mind set tended to get him into trouble. Like he will be if they didn't get home at a reasonable time. Which is why he and Rune needed to hurry.

"There is no way I would be able to lie like that to my mother," Rune commented.

"I'm aware of that Rune," Raiden told him and made sure the young mage could see him roll his eyes. "I was there when you tried to tell her how the wind broke some of her equipment." Honestly Rune didn't even get that far in the lie before breaking down crying and started apologizing for breaking her things. Raiden had even coached him in it as they waited for his mother to return. Rune's mother was so taken aback that she started scolding Rune for not being a better liar. Then she turned to Raiden and scolded him for not being more careful since it had been mainly his fault. That was about three years ago and he hadn't improved. Rune was honest to a fault.

"Besides, you're making me sound like a delinquent," Raiden added.

"You say that after we skip school and lied to your mother," Rune pointed out.

"And what does that make you?"

"Your accomplice," Rune admitted. Then he sighed. "I need better friends."

Raiden actually started laughing and put his arms over his head. "Please, you'd be bored without me," Raiden told him.

"At least I'd get a lot more work done," Rune rebuked.

He was joking of course. They both knew that if it wasn't Raiden, Rune would never leave the lab, or talk to anyone, or really do anything that didn't pertain to magic. And if Raiden didn't have Rune then he would probably study less and get into even more dangerous situations. Yeah, Rune had talked Raiden out of going or doing even more dangerous activities.

"Like I said, boring," Raiden said. "Just admit it, your life is way more interesting with me around." Normally Rune would rebuke this claim. But he stopped walking and was silent. "What? Did you forget to do your homework?" Raiden asked.

It was then that Rune shushed him and he fell silent again. But for a brief moment Raiden could clearly hear a short battle cry. "You heard that too, right?" Rune asked.

"Yeah," Raiden said and looked down the path the noise was coming from. "Come on," Raiden whispered and carefully made his way down the path so he wouldn't cause unnecessary noise.

"Raiden," Rune harshly called out in a whisper. Raiden imagined his friend throwing a small silent fit before catching up with him. He grabbed Raiden's arm. "What if it's the knights? We're going to be in serious trouble if they find us here."

"Let's just make sure no one is hurt. If it is the knights, I promise we're going to get the hell out of here," Raiden told him. The last thing he needed was to cause his mother more worry with the image of her son being escorted home by the knights. Only people with permission could enter the ruins and they obviously didn't. But since the Empire didn't spare any knights to guard the ruins, people could sneak in and out all the time.

Rune let go of his arm and silently started praying that the knights were here.

The two of them quietly moved along and crouched behind some stalagmites that were at an edge. Below them was the source of the battle cry and they were battling a few crabs and there were even two golems.

However it wasn't knights as they thought. It was a girl about their age fighting all the monsters alone. But she was surprising doing well for herself. She had two knives in her hands that were making quick work of the monsters. She threw one knife at a crab's eye to disorient it. She then ran toward it and jumped on top of the crab, while also pulling her weapon out of the monster. Her sights were obviously on the golem behind the crab. The front part of her body began to glow before flames were around her, "Rising Phoenix" she called out as her body dived toward the golem. Its rock body shattered and she stuck the landing expertly and even sent out a Demon Fang arte to finish off the crab she had partially blinded.

"It's a girl," Rune muttered. "She doesn't look to be a knight." There was a little bit of disappointment in his voice after that realization. He really thought they would be able to leave if it was the knights.

"Yeah," Raiden agreed. If she was a knight she would be in uniform and she was only in traveling clothes. She had light pants with flat boots and blue collared shirt with fancy cuffs at the wrists and arm guards on her forearms. She also wore a black vest that had tailcoats in the back with two knife sheathes crisscrossed on her tail bone. Her dark wavy hair was free and only stayed out of her face because of a blue hairband.

The thought of her being in a guild did cross his mind, but not many guilds came to Hypionia. Plus she was alone. He and Rune hadn't run into anybody else. Why on earth was she here?

Suddenly she got caught by a golem's arm and she fell back, losing her grip on her weapons.

"Come on," Raiden told Rune and didn't hesitate to jump down the small ledge.

"Raiden," he heard Rune call after. But he soon heard Rune follow him down. However the mage fell on his behind again.

Raiden got in range and pulled one sword out to release an Azure Edge arte. The small force was enough to make the golem faze for a moment. It was plenty of time for the girl to get back to her feet and retrieve her weapons. Raiden used the same arte again to get the golem to focus on him instead. And it worked. "This way," Raiden told the monster and led him away from the girl and Rune.

"What are you doing?" He heard the girl call out.

"We've got this guy," Raiden told her as he narrowly dodged a crab's claw by rolling on the ground. He quickly jumped to his feet to face the golem. "You take care of the rest of the monsters." There was a brief moment when the girl just stared at him. But she nodded and resumed her fight with the remaining monsters.

"Ready when you are Rune," Raiden said to his friend after he jumped to the side to avoid the creature from crushing him.

Rune already had a spell circle below his feet. And Raiden groaned when he saw that it was water spell. "Working on it," Rune replied bitterly.

Raiden tried to create some distance so he could avoid the spell. But the golem had other ideas and he was surprisingly fast for a bunch of rocks. Then his arm came out and Raiden had just enough time to pull out his other sword to help block. The force made Raiden hit the wall and he felt his right arm scrap against a jagged rock.

"Splash," Raiden finally head Rune call out. A blue magic circle appeared above the golem and a small waterfall poured out of it and forced the golem to his knees.

Raiden shook the impact off and ran toward the golem. He transferred his mana into one of his sword. "Sonic Thrust," Raiden said as he stabbed at the center of the golem. It was enough force to cause the golem to crumble like the last one. With it defeated, Raiden let out a relieved breath. Rune ran over to him to make sure he was in one piece.

At the same time, the girl finished off the last crab. She sheathed her weapons and made her way to the two of them. "Are the two of you okay?" She asked. But she quickly glanced at Raiden's shoulder and she looked a bit concerned. "Looks like were hurt because of me."

Both Rune and Raiden looked at where Raiden had scraped his arm on the rock. But they only saw that he had a rip in his coat. The skin underneath was untouched. "It's nothing," Raiden reassured and showed her.

She did look a bit relieved. "That's good. But who are you two? Not many people are allowed down here."

"We could say the same thing," Rune pointed out.

But the girl pulled a slip of paper out of her back pocket and the two of them flinched when they saw the knights' seal. "I was given permission to be down here," she told them what they already knew.

 _Crap, not good,_ Raiden began to panic a little and there was no telling how much Rune was at this moment. The other part of Raiden that wasn't panicking was wondering how she got the knight's permission. She couldn't be a knight in training, could she? She wasn't in armor or even uniform.

"I suppose the two of you aren't supposed to be here, huh?" She said after reading their reactions. To their luck, she said, "I guess in return for helping me, I'll forget that I saw you here."

"That would be great," Raiden told her as he felt relived. "I'm Raiden by the way."

He felt an elbow to his side and heard Rune saying, "I thought we were going to forget we saw each other."

"Don't worry, I promise I won't tell anyone," the girl said. "You can call me Shea by the way."

Rune still had that worried look on his face. But eventually he introduced himself. "I'm Rune."

And Shea said the same thing most people did when they heard his name. "That's quite a unique name," she said to hide the fact she probably thought it was a weirder name.

With Rune suddenly getting embarrassed for his name, Raiden asked, "If you don't mind me asking, why are you down here?"

"Not at all. Some healers in Aurnion are low on some of their supplies, so I told them I would come to the Dwemer Ruins to get some moss they needed to make medicine," she answered.

"So does that mean you're with the guilds?" Rune asked.

Shea shook her head. "Oh no, nothing like that. I'm just doing it because I thought I should. I don't belong with the guilds or the knights."

"Aurnion's a long way from here," Rune commented. "At least two days on foot. Not to mention how dangerous it is traveling by yourself nowadays."

"And you're only doing this because you want to? Raiden asked.

"Basically," she said.

"Do you need any help finding these ingredients?" Raiden offered.

Both she and Rune were startled by this. "That's very kind of you, but I think I've got enough until their next shipment comes," Shea told.

Raiden was kind of surprised that Rune wasn't saying anything about how they were supposed to be looking for blastia. But he was probably hoping Raiden would forget and want to go home.

Then Shea pulled a pocket watch out and looked at the time. "Anyway, I should be going. The knights will be looking for me soon to make sure I'm out of these ruins." She picked up a bag that was probably full of the ingredients she gathered. "You two should probably come too if you don't want to get caught by the knights."

Raiden and Rune shared a quick glance. They agreed that their little exhibition was over and followed Shea.

Rune moved faster than he had all day. "I would also prefer to not end up like some of those others," Rune muttered.

Raiden quickly glanced and around monster carcasses, there was broken pieces of what looked like knight's armor. There was even a tattered tabard that looked like it had been there for a few decades. Raiden wondered how it could have gotten shattered into piece like that with no bones around.

He had to quickly shake his head so he could focus on his current task. Raiden tended to get sidetracked a lot at small details like this.

/~/~/

 **Skit: Not Getting Out Enough**

 **Shea** : So I never asked. Why were the two of you in the ruins?

 **Raiden** : We were looking for blastia.

 **Shea** : Really? I can't say I know much about them, but they're basically useless now, right?

 **Rune** : That's true. They're basically just hunks of metal.

 **Shea** : Then why would you look for one. Are the two of you aspiring to be historians?

 **Rune** : Not really. My mother had been a big name in blastia research. So I would like to study something that she spent years working on. Plus I'd like to see if there really isn't anything we can do with it other than converting the metal to magi technology.

 **Shea** : That's very admirable of you. *Rune suddenly looking embarrassed* So what about you Raiden?

 **Rune** : He just wanted to get out of the village.

 **Raiden** : What's wrong with that? I get excited when I think about seeing new places.

 **Shea** giving a small laugh: Nothing at all. I think a lot of people share the same feeling.

/~/~/

It didn't take long to reach the exit, probably because Raiden didn't have to keep dragging Rune along. Raiden climbed up the rope ladder first. The entrance to the ruin was basically just a hole in the ground in the middle of the forest that had been discovered by pure accident about twenty years ago. Now there were just signs warning people away and a little shack where researchers and knights would stay. When it was first discovered, mages and knights were here all the time. Now they rarely came since there wasn't much left to study.

Raiden called to the others that there wasn't anyone or monsters nearby. Rune was next and Raiden helped him when he was near the top. Then came Shea and Raiden offered to help her up.

She didn't take his hand. Instead, when she was staring at Raiden's left hand. Or really the bracelet on his wrist. "Forgive my curiosity," she started to say as she climbed up. "But is that what I think it is?"

Raiden pulled his sleeve up to show her the golden bracelet that had very dull red stones in it. "Yep, it's a bodhi blastia," he told her with a bit of pride.

"No way, does it actually work?" She asked. She hadn't been the first to ask him that.

Raiden shook his head. "No. It was my dad's. My mom gave it to me as a good luck charm."

"A good luck charm that doesn't work," Rune commented. He was looking at the orange sky and let out a worried sigh. "Look how late it is."

Raiden patted Rune on the back. "Look on the bright side. We're in one piece."

"Something we wouldn't have to worry about if we hadn't snuck out," Rune muttered.

"Well I'd say it'd make a fine heirloom," Shea commented. But suddenly she looked over her shoulder like she had heard something. "The two of you better get going. The knights are coming back from the nearby village."

"I don't hear anything," Raiden said.

Rune grabbed the back of Raiden's collar, "I'd rather not find out. Come on." Rune tugged at him and Raiden clumsily followed as he was being pulled.

Shea gave them a small smile and a wave before dropping it to look like nothing was out of the ordinary. Raiden gave a small wave back while being dragged by Rune.

They made a little distance and stayed crouched behind of trees and shrubs. By then they saw two knights approach Shea. They were too far away to hear what was being said. However, it looked like they were leaving together on friendly terms. Shea walked with them no problem.

Raiden wondered briefly if Shea would be stopping by Arie Hallow before returning to Aurnion. That was the only town that was nearby before reaching the capital.

He didn't get to wonder long before Rune nudged him to go. It was getting late, and they needed to return home before it got much later. There was no telling how much trouble they were in for.


	2. Chapter 2

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 2: Grounded 

Arie Hallow can really only be considered a town in the last five years. It was originally founded as a research facility for mages and guilds to properly investigate the nearby ruins. But with less to learn from them, the researchers abandoned it and it was slowly converted into a village to meet the sudden flow of people migrating to Hypionia. While the town was bigger than places like Halure, it still gave off a very country side vibe.

When it was first settled, the area had been cleared of trees and plants. But since it started turning into a settlement, there have been work to regrow the trees inside the town. Small trees were starting to grow all over the place. It was like the magistrate was trying to turn this place into another Halure.

There was even construction for a stone wall to help better protect the town. But there were still plenty of places to sneak through to get out of the town without the guards noticing. Hence how Raiden and Rune got in and out without any of the knights noticing.

Both of their mothers would probably be home by now. They're best bet was to sneak in to their own rooms and act like they were there the whole time. Would it work? Raiden was almost sure it wouldn't. But he was still going to try.

"Well, well. It looks like I found a couple of trouble makers," a familiar voice said to them and it made both of them flinch as they had been walking causally through the town.

They turned around to see a man in his upper twenties. He had messy brown hair tied back and had an eye patch over his right eye that partially covered a large scar that looked like a clawed monster caught the right side of his face. He was wearing dark pants and a grey button shirt that wasn't tucked in and the top few buttons were open. There was even an unsheathed broadsword on his back which Raiden always thought it was interesting that he could wield it well considering he had a normal stature that was about the same size as Raiden's father.

"Oh, hey Paul," Raiden said nervously. "When did you get here?"

"A couple of hours ago," Paul said with a knowing smile.

There was a small uncomfortable silence between the three of them. Then Rune finally asked, "Did our moms send you to come look for us?"

"Yep," Paul answered.

"Are they mad?" Raiden asked so they could gauge how much trouble they were in.

Paul started to chuckle at that. "Oh yeah, Rita is ready to tear the whole place apart looking for you two."

And whatever mood they had been in immediately dropped knowing that they were doomed. In fact, Rune looked like he was about to get sick. They'd have to listen to Rune's mother angry scolding and Raiden would have to look at his mother's disappointment. Raiden was sure that he'd rather his mom just yell at him then having her look worried or sad because of him.

"Come on kiddos, time to face the music," Paul motioned for them to follow him back to their homes.

"How tempted are you to just flee?" Raiden asked Rune and not caring if Paul heard him.

"Just tell me when," Rune told him with his head down.

"Don't make me hunt you two down," Paul commented.

Both of the boys glared at the older man. The need to flee was high, but both of them went ahead to face their punishment. Plus Paul wouldn't be afraid to use force on them if they did run.

Eventually Paul led them to Raiden's house where he saw his mother waiting for them on the steps of their porch. She was wearing a short sleeve yellow dress. Her pink hair was resting over her shoulders with a ribbon tied at the bottom of it. "Raiden," she said as relief filled her face. She practically ran down he steps to them.

"Found them entering the town, Ms. Estelle," Paul informed her. He even pushed the boys so they were face to face with Raiden's mother.

Before any of them could say another word, they could hear Rune's mother coming. They saw the short woman with brown hair and wearing a long red mage robe walking from the center of the village to the house. "I couldn't find them Este-" But the mage's attention quickly fell on them and she stormed toward them. After she dealt both of them a swift strike on the top of their heads, she began yelling, "Where the hell did you two go?"

Both of them were cradling their heads. How could such a small woman pack a punch? Raiden glanced at his mother to see that she had no reaction to the punishment he had received. Then Raiden looked at his friend who was frozen with fear at his mother's anger. He couldn't handle anyone getting angry with him. It just caused him to retreat like a turtle.

So Raiden straightened up and answered her, "We just decided to go train by hunting monsters in the woods nearby." It wasn't a total lie. Raiden had hoped that he would be able to test his artes on some monsters while they were in the ruins. But their lecture would be even longer if their mothers knew what they had really done.

For that, Raiden received another hit on the head by Rune's mother. "And I guess that was your idea, huh?" She yelled.

"Yeah I dragged Rune along," Raiden admitted as he nursed his head and hoped that Rune wouldn't get yelled at as much. Again though, it was basically the truth. Raiden practically had dragged Rune along.

Rune's mother groaned at that and rubbed her temple. "I don't know if I should be more mad at a trouble maker like you or my own kid for not being able to say no to you." She turned away from Raiden and stomped toward Rune who jumped when he was face to face with her. His mother grabbed his collar and started dragging him home. "Come on you. For making me worry about you, you're cleaning the whole lab. Then you have your punishment for skipping school."

She was dragging Rune home when she looked back at Raiden's mother and told her, "Estelle don't you dare go easy on him. He'll never learn."

"Alright Rita," Raiden's mother told her in a light tone. Raiden was a little concerned that his mother was smiling at her friend. "Have a good evening."

Rita continued dragging a terrified Rune back to their home. Raiden just waved at his friend who weakly waved back. No doubt Raiden will hear about what happened the next day at school.

So Raiden turned to face his mother to receive his punishment. However it startled him when his mother suddenly hugged him. Her arms were wrapped tightly around him like she hadn't seen him in a long time. "I was so worried when I heard you weren't at school."

It was strange that Raiden just now became aware that he was starting to get taller than her. He could see the top of her head now. And of course Raiden began to feel incredibly guilty for making her worry about him. "Sorry mom," he apologized.

His mother pulled away, but kept her hands on his shoulders like she was assessing that he was in one piece. "I'm just happy you're safe," she told him.

"Happy enough not to ground me?" Raiden asked with a bit of hope in his voice.

His mother smiled at him. "Nope," she said flatly. "But you'll get one free night since I need more time to decide on what to do with you."

Raiden let out a defeated sight. "Can't blame me for trying."

His mother then turned her attention to Paul and gave a small bow toward him. "Thank you. You helped put my mind at ease," she told him.

Paul scratched the back of his head. "Oh please. You shouldn't thank me. I owe you guys everything. So it's just part of my duty to check on you all," Paul told her.

"Then if you won't take my thanks will you at least accept a meal?" She asked knowing full well what Paul's answer was going to be.

As Raiden expected, Paul looked like someone who hadn't had a decent meal in a while. He tried play it off that it wasn't a big deal though. "Well, since you're offering, I can't really refuse."

"Come inside then and wash up," Estelle told both of them as she walked up to the steps to the house.

With Raiden's mother out of earshot, Paul asked Raiden in a low voice, "So where did the two of you really go?"

"Dwemer Ruins," Raiden answered.

Paul chuckled a little at that. "Yeah, good thing you lied about that. The two of you would have received twice the hits from Rita and a lot of crying from your mom," Paul told him.

Raiden knew Paul wouldn't tell on him. In fact, Paul had helped them sneak out to fight monsters in the past. Raiden always looked up to Paul like an older brother. The type that could get you into trouble. He was practically family at this point, especially since Paul was a member of the guild that Raiden's father helped create.

Raiden and Paul entered the cozy home. The home was two stories with three bedrooms. Their living area had a very comfy sofa and chairs along with several bookshelves filled with books that Raiden had never read. There was a fire place that had a picture of Raiden's father.

"I'm home dad," Raiden said under his breath as he looked at the picture.

His mother held out her hands in front of Raiden. He gave a sigh as he handed over his sheathed swords to her. She checked the condition of the swords. "Honestly Raiden, you need to be more careful with these. They're older than you," she said as placed them back on the weapon rack where they kept the few of things they still had of his father. They had lost a lot of things when they had to flee Halure. But Uncle Karol had given them a few of the spare swords his dad had kept at their guild's base.

Estelle then moved over to kitchen and started moving the food she had been making to the dinner table and they were about ask if there was anything they could do to help when a younger voice spoke up, "So you didn't die?"

Raiden looked over at the corner and saw his younger sister, Elena, sitting in a chair with her feet propped up on a stool. In her lap was a medium size dog and in her hands was a book that her nose was deep in, so she never even looked up at him. She was two years younger than him and had long hair that was the same color as his with bangs that nearly covered her eyes. She was in a baggy sweatshirt and baggy shorts.

"Is that your way of saying that you were worried about me?" Raiden asked her.

Without looking up from her book, Elena replied, "Of course not, idiots don't die easily."

"Your concern is touching as usual," Raiden muttered.

Paul walked over to Elena and like he was trying to see what she was seeing. "Gotta ask kid, did you even leave the house today?" He asked.

She actually glanced up from her book for a brief moment and looked really annoyed to see that it was Paul. Her attention returned to her book, but she moaned, "Oh great, the mooch is here."

"A mooch? I'm the star member of Brave Vesperia. I don't need to live off others," Paul rebuked.

"Do you even have enough gald for the inn tonight?" Raiden asked even though he knew the guild member's answer.

Paul was silent for a brief moment because they all knew that his wallet was empty. Like always.

"If you need a place to sleep then you know you are more than welcome to stay here," Estelle suddenly said as she entered the living area.

"Well if you insist," Paul said with a grin. He always stayed with them when he visited because he never had any gald. He also ate a lot of meals with them. Raiden tried asking why he was always broke, but he never gave a straight answer.

"Elena, get to a stopping point and come to eat," their mother told her.

His sister looked rather annoyed that she had to stop. Raiden was pretty sure she would read all day without eating if no one told her to. The dog jumped off of Elena's lap and Raiden swore the dog gave him a dirty look.

His mother then gently pushed both Raiden and Paul toward the bathroom. "Both of you wash up," she instructed.

"Yes ma'am," both of them muttered.

Afterwards, everyone was finally seated at the table, although Elena looked like she wanted to still read. Raiden hadn't realized how hungry he had been until he saw the food. He quickly took two bites before he asked Paul, "So what brings you to Arie Hallow?"

"Even people of the Empire still ask for help from the guilds sometimes," he answered. "I was in the area for a job so I thought I'd come make sure all of you are alright while I was at it."

"More like you just wanted a free meal and a place to sleep," Elena rebuked calmly as she took a bite.

Paul nearly stood up as both Raiden and his mother both sighed. "Knock it off kid. You're supposed to respect people who are older than you," Paul told her getting aggravated.

"The phrase is elders," Elena quickly corrected. "Unless you're wanted me to call you old man. But maybe I would start to respect you if you were actually a respectable adult." Elena knew just how to push Paul's buttons. Actually she knew how to push a lot of people's buttons.

Raiden wanted to tell Paul that he should just stop talking considering Elena would have a comeback for everything. But the guild member continued. "Says the introverted bookworm. I'm just in a bit of a rough patch with finances right now. It can happen to anyone."

"That seems to be a recurring thing with you," Elena said.

"Elena, that's enough," their mother said sounding very tired. Paul wore a triumphant smirk on his face for about three seconds before she told him the same thing. "That goes for you too Pauly."

He groaned at that. "Come on Ms. Estelle. I'm not a kid anymore," he told her.

"Then don't get into a verbal fight with someone almost half your age," she told him. Elena was smirking at that one.

"Plus you were kind of losing anyway," Raiden added and it caused Paul to glare at him. "Anyway," Raiden said to change the subject, "do you still have a guild job to do like hunting monsters in this area?"

"Yeah, a merchant lost a box of stuff on his way here during a monster attack. The knights won't do anything, so they asked me to look for it on the road," Paul told him.

"That's the kind of jobs "star" members get?" Elena questioned. "Sounds to me like you just pissed Uncle Karol off and you're doing grunt work."

"Elena watch your language," their mother warned before Paul could comment and fail to rebuke her.

"Since it doesn't sound too dangerous, could I tag along?" Raiden quickly asked. "You could use an extra set of eyes looking for someone."

Before Paul could answer, Estelle did. "I believe you'll be too busy with your punishment to be of much help to him."

"Right," Raiden muttered. He couldn't believe that he had almost forgotten that he would be grounded for a while. Paul shrugged his shoulders in defeat. He would have let him, but there was no way he would have crossed his mother.

/~/~/

"I hate biology," Rune complained as his head fell against his desk in defeat. It was break time at school and it was the first time he and Raiden had a chance to talk.

"That's the project you have to do," Raiden said and his friend nodded. Rune was almost late to school, which had really worried Raiden, and the young mage entered looking like he barely slept any. "So how long did you end up cleaning the lab for?"

Rune turned his head to look at Raiden. "My mother is not a clean woman. I'm going to have to continue cleaning when I get home." The young mage sat up a little. "So what about you? What did your mom do to you?"

"She hasn't decided anything," Raiden answered. "She said she would meet me after school and let me know what my punishment is."

"That's kind of scary. I definitely wouldn't be able to sleep or anything if my mother said something like that."

"Yeah, it has me a bit worried too," Raiden admitted.

"You don't look all that worried to me," Rune pointed out.

Raiden just shrugged and instead just asked, "So when our moms let us out of the house again, what do you want to do next?"

"Something that won't get us in trouble would be nice."

"Our moms do seem to be running out of ideas for punishments for us," Raiden agreed a bit. He thought back to the day before and thought about the girl they had met. "Maybe when we get a break from school we could ask our moms if we can take a trip to Heliord by ourselves so we can visit Benji."

Surprisingly Rune didn't turn the suggestion down or look worried like he normally was. "Where did this come from?" Was all he asked.

Raiden just shrugged. "The girl Shea, she was about our age and she had come out here by herself just. I don't know, I just think it would be pretty neat to just travel around. Plus it's been about a year since we've seen Benji. I'm sure he's getting a bit lonely with all those other researchers."

Benji grew up with them. He was actually closer to Elena's age, but had ran around with Rune and Raiden when they were younger. Benji was really smart like Rune. However that didn't mean he didn't like playing monster hunt with them. But then he got invited to attend the research institute in Heliord. And he accepted it without hesitation. Raiden had been surprised that Rune hadn't been asked to join.

"I'm pretty shocked," Rune admitted. "That actually doesn't sound bad at all. It's rather sensible coming from you."

"So you're on board?"

"As long as we travel on the main roads. We've proven we can handle basic monsters with our teamwork and artes. But there are way more dangerous monsters in those deep woods."

Raiden was filled with excitement now and missed the last part of what Rune had said. He slapped Rune's back so hard that his glasses fell off. "Man this is going to be great. Benji will be so excited," Raiden exclaimed. Of course they needed to get their moms' permission first.

Rune was looking for his glasses, but they had already been picked up by someone else and Raiden's good mood was ruined. One of their classmates who was slightly bulkier than them was holding Rune's glasses. "Hey Mordio, missed you yesterday in class," their classmate said and Rune flinched when he heard him.

"What do you want Will?" Raiden asked and moved so he was next to Rune. Will tended to pick on Rune, especially when Raiden wasn't around. They've gotten into fights with Will and a couple of his friends. Raiden would give him this, he had balls to keep picking on Rune even after Rita threated that if she caught Will picking on Rune again no one would know what happened to him after she was finished with him.

"Wasn't talking to you, Lowell. I was asking your friend," Will snapped.

"Then give him his glasses back and ask him," Raiden told him.

Will dropped the glasses on the desk and Rune quickly put them back on. "We're having a test on magic and mana technology at the end of the week so I was wondering if you would help me pass it. If I don't, I can't get into the knight academy next year."

"I'm not going to help you cheat," Rune muttered as he tried to hide the fact that he was scared.

"Don't think of it as cheating then. Think of it as getting rid of me," Will rebuked and pushed Rune's head into the desk. "I know you'd like not having to deal with me. But if I get into the academy then you won't see me again."

 _That's if you get in,_ Raiden thought bitterly. He'd like not having to see Will's smug face again, but he also didn't like that he would be in line to become a knight. That is if he passed the academy, of course.

Raiden shoved Will's hand away from Rune's head and the young mage hesitantly looked up. "Just study like the rest of us," Raiden told him. "If you're going to be a knight shouldn't you be able to do something as simple as pass a test on your own?" Raiden also thought the idea of asking Rune to cheat was almost funny enough to laugh at. There would be no way he could keep the composure and Raiden would be willing to bet he could keep it for about two minutes before going to the teacher and apologizing for it.

"You're one to talk Lowell," Will spat. "Someone like you, who has no chance of getting into the academy, shouldn't be judging others who can."

"Like I'd want to join the knights the way they are now," Raiden muttered. Raiden wanted to roll his eyes. This guy's dad was one of the knights that guarded the town, so obviously he thought he was some big shot because of family. In fact, he first tried to be buddies with Raiden considering who his mother was. She was related to the royal family, a member of the council, and she was the magistrate of Arie Hollow. But then he found out who his father was and Will no longer wanted any association with him, which was a relief for Raiden. He just wished he'd leave Rune alone. Then he wouldn't have to deal with him at all.

Then Will waved his hand in a dismissing matter like he would a servant. "So why don't you go join one of those savage guilds like your dad and let Mordio and me finish our talk."

"Was that supposed to be insulting or something?" Raiden almost laughed at Will's weak attempt to get under his skin. "Come on Will, you can do better than that."

"Raiden," Rune seemed to warn. He knew where this was going to lead before Raiden thought that far ahead.

"I'll gladly join a 'savage guild' if my only other option is joining the knights who don't seem to do a damn thing when there's trouble." Raiden had raised his voice at that, most of the class was looking at him and so was the teacher.

"Then I guess your life goal is to cause more problems for the Empire because someone pays you and die in a ditch somewhere like your old man," Will said with smirk.

Raiden couldn't stop what he said next. "I guess your goal is to be a drunk fat ass who spends more time harassing people rather than helping them like your old man."

Raiden saw the punch coming, but didn't do anything to stop it or avoid it. Honestly, he wanted Will to start a fight. That's why he purposely provoked him. It gave him an excuse to punched Will square in the jaw next.

/~/~/

"Why am I not surprised you were in a fight?" Raiden's mother said in a tired voice. She was still looking him over to make sure he didn't have any injuries. He told her five times that he was fine. Will had an arm on him, but never got another hit in after the first one. In fact the only other hit Will got in was to the teacher when he tried to stop their fighting.

"He started it," Raiden defended. He was exhausted after hearing lectures from his teachers, Will's knight father (who was surprisingly not drunk then), and now his mother. Of course he felt he deserved one from her. She had bowed in apology to his teacher and the knight for his sake. Raiden wished she hadn't done that for him.

His mother sighed. "You do realize that if you were anyone else's kid, Captain Kamal would have demanded you be thrown in jail for the assault on his son."

Raiden stayed quiet. He hadn't thought of that. It should have been obvious that if he beat up the son of a captain of the knights that they would want him punished. He supposed he should be lucky that his mother was a member of the Imperial Council and magistrate for this town.

"What was going through your head?" She asked.

"He was picking on Rune and he was bad mouthing dad's guild," Raiden told her. He was sure that if he let Will talk more that would have said something more about his dad. It wouldn't be the first time Will said something about his dad.

It was his mother's turn to fall silent. "Come on," she said after a brief and uncomfortable silence between them.

Raiden gladly followed her as they left the school grounds. The sooner they left, the sooner the uncomfortable air Raiden caused could leave. He regretted telling her that. Maybe he should have just said Will was pissing him off.

They weren't taking the normal route home. Raiden was pretty sure they weren't heading home. He was going to find out what his punishment was.

To begin, his mother asked him, "Have you given any more thought about what you're going to do?"

Raiden's whole demeanor fell more. He had and hadn't come any closer to choosing a career path. In fact, he was less sure now.

"I see," his mother said. "You know you can always join Brave Vesperia. Karol and the others would be happy to have you. When people say those horrible things about the guilds it's just because the state of the Empire. You know Karol and the others nothing to do with that business."

"I know Mom," Raiden reassured her. He knew the guild cities weren't terrorist or any of the other garbage people said about them. What would that say about his dad and the people they considered practically family. It's just that Brave Vesperia was his dad's guild. Anything he did with the guild would just be compared to his dad. When he had been younger, he had told his dad that he was going to join the guild with him. It seemed different now that he wasn't here.

"And there will be nothing wrong if you wanted to be a knight," she quickly added. "Your father would be proud of you regardless. As long as you're trying to help people."

"I know Mom," Raiden repeated. Although he was sure it would have taken some time until his dad was okay with the idea of his son being a knight. But he'd eventually warm up to the idea. "There's just a lot going on right now. The knights aren't really doing their job in helping people and just seem eager to start a fight with anyone. The same with most of the guilds. Neither side seems better than the other." _Besides, either side I choose I'll probably end up fighting the other._ Raiden thought. He didn't want to sadden his mother by reminding her that war may break out any day.

"That is true," she admitted. "Neither side is really living up to their full potential or thinking of others for the most part. But maybe you would be able to do something about it."

Raiden really fought the urge not to groan or roll his eyes. He'd heard this speech dozens of times from her. How change can be made by working on the inside. Just like what a friend of hers and Dad's did. He was just getting tired of hearing it over and over. It was something his mother was trying to do now by being on the council. She was trying to keep relations between the Empire and the guild cities good. It was just a difficult fight for her when she was one of the few trying to prevent war. If the commandant of the knights wasn't on her side, war may have already broken out.

Then she startled him by quickly adding, "Of course if you wanted to do something like run a business, or anything else you have my full support." She sounded like she had forgotten there were other career paths he could do even though Raiden had never shown interest in anything other than the guilds and the knights. Then she added the catch and the main reason Raiden had no interest in those fields. "Of course you'll have to improve your grades and go to school longer."

"I know Mom," Raiden groaned. But he tried to give his mother a weak smile at the end to reassure her.

"I just want to make sure you know you can anything you want to do and that I'll be rooting for you," she explained. But she sounded more excited with what Raiden was going to do than Raiden himself. She'd probably be happy when he stopped causing her worry. "Oh, here we are," his mother suddenly said.

It made Raiden realize where his mother had brought him. They were at Mr. Regis's bookstore. It was surprising that it was still in business considering he was like eighty, half-blind, and Raiden was pretty sure the old man was slowly losing his ability to remember. Raiden started to feel like Rune when he was about to receive his punishment. Raiden still asked, "What are we doing here?"

His mother wore a smile when she said, "Where you will be spending your time while you're grounded. You're going to be helping Mr. Regis organize all his books and help him take in inventory."

"For how long?" Raiden asked. This was going to be so boring.

"Each day until closing and this will continue until Mr. Regis thinks everything is in order."

Another thing about the book keeper, he was very meticulous. There was only one way to do something. This wasn't the first time he had to do this. The last time he was helping the Mr. Regis for two months and that was only because the old man got tired of telling him how to do inventory. But with his memory getting worse, he'll probably forget that he had told Raiden how to mark something down or where to place the books. This was going to be a long punishment.

His mother patted his shoulder. "I'll keep your dinner warm when you get home," she said and left him there for his punishment.

It was at moments like these that he wished he took after his mother or sister more. Elena would probably love doing something like this.

/~/~/

Raiden returned home late because Mr. Regis forgot what time he closed the shop. The only good thing was that the old man seemed to have relaxed some and wasn't as picky about things. So he might not be there for as long as he thought. But it was still boring as hell. He would have much rather done homework for once or maybe even help Rune with one of his research projects.

As promised, Raiden did have a hot meal waiting for him and he was grateful to his mother for that. Elena was in her usual spot with book in hand and dog in the lap. Paul wasn't back yet from his job request. His mother sent them both up to bed before the guild member returned, much to Raiden's disappointment.

He was asleep for about two hours when he just suddenly just woke up. He still felt sleepy and just kept tossing and turning. It was around midnight, so Raiden decided to get up and get a glass of water. He had trouble keeping his balance since he was so drowsy. It would be his luck that he would fall down the stairs and wake up the whole house.

As he was rubbing his eyes, he noticed that there were still some lamps burning downstairs. That was enough to wake Raiden up some as he took extra precaution not to make a noise. He could hear his mother's voice. She was casting a healing spell.

Raiden walked down the stairs and stopped midway so he would still be out of sight. It sounded like his mother was in the dining room.

"Since when are you this careless?" He heard his mother ask.

There was a small flash of light that came from her healing artes followed by Paul's voice. "Sorry, I guess I got distracted. Thanks for fixing me up Ms. Estelle."

Was Paul just returning? That was odd that this mission would take this long and that he would have gotten so hurt that his mom had to heal him. There weren't that many strong monsters in this area that Paul couldn't handle. Raiden felt worried for him.

Raiden heard his mother sigh, "What on earth could cause such a distraction from you. You're like Yuri and Karol when you fight."

There was a long pause from Paul. Finally he said, "I just got to thinking about what happened to Yuri."

Raiden felt his eyes widen after hearing that. What was Paul thinking that would still bother him after four years?

"Paul, I really don't want to talk about it," Raiden's mother said and Raiden felt similar. A part of him wanted to retreat back to his room to keep from remembering that day four years ago. Why was Paul bringing it up now? But the other part wanted to keep listening.

He heard what sounded like a fist slamming against the table. "How can you not? Yuri stayed to fight with the knights so more people could get away and one of those damn bastards still killed him."

 _What?_ Raiden felt himself freeze. His father had been killed four years ago during a boarder skirmish with a group of mysterious renegades that took over the ruins of Zaphias as their own. Then they looked to expand their region. It happened so quick that the knights were in disarray. A couple of comading officers fled seeing they were being attacked by humans. With chain of command broken, the knights had no idea what to do. Raiden's father stayed behind to help buy time for citizens to escape and he never came home afterwards. Raiden had thought he was killed by the enemy. But if what Paul was saying was true then-

"It fills me with anger just thinking about it," Raiden's mother suddenly said, somehow keeping her voice from shouting. "There isn't a day that goes by when I wonder why my children have to grow up without their father." She was fighting to keep her voice steady. She sounded on the verge of tears. "He was trying to help people, and the knights just…" Estelle couldn't finish the sentence.

"I think I know how to track them down," Paul told her and Raiden felt himself lean more forward like he thought that Paul would whisper it. "According to my sources, he guy that killed Yuri wasn't even a knight. He was just posing as one. Rumor is that the killer was really a member of the guild Circus of Anarchy. They've been causing so much trouble with the guild cities and the Empire. I can get a few guilds together and with your resources we could find them."

"I don't want to know," Estelle said sounding very tired all of a sudden.

"Why? Don't you want to know? With your connections with the Empire, you can even try and get this guy arrested or whatever you want," Paul tried to urge. "You know Flynn wouldn't hesitate to bring this guy down."

"But he shouldn't be spending his time and effort chasing down a rumor when we're trying to avoid a war," Raiden's mother argued. Raiden wanted to jump down the rest of the stairs and join Paul's argument. But he didn't when he heard his mother say, "You know Yuri, he wouldn't want us to focus on him when we could be trying to save the lives of many. Besides, I don't know what I would do if I found out who he was."

There was a very brief moment before there came a very weak laugh from Paul. "I can hear Yuri now. 'What the hell are you all doing? You really could have done something better with your time.' Damn it all."

Raiden couldn't believe what he had just over head. It wasn't enough that his father had been killed. He had been murdered by someone he thought he could trust.


	3. Chapter 3

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 3: Grief 

"Mr. Lowell, do you care to pay attention to class," the teacher snapped.

Raiden wouldn't have realized what was going on if Rune hadn't kicked his foot. "Sorry, I guess I didn't get enough sleep last night," Raiden muttered and even rubbed his eyes for emphasis.

The teacher just shook his head. "Try to get enough rest for class next time. I know you're not staying up to study." The teacher muttered the last sentence to himself as he turned back to chalk board to write down dates or math formulas. Or something. Raiden really didn't any pay attention to class. He just laid his head back on the desk and stared blankly forward.

He was still thinking about what he heard last night. His mother on the verge of tears and Paul saying how his father was killed. Paul thinks the person that killed Yuri Lowell was from a guild called Circus Anarchy, an unofficial guild that had been going around causing problems for both the guilds and the Empire. There was even a rumor that the guild was responsible for the Emperor's death. But that was still unknown. Raiden just couldn't comprehend that. Someone had really wanted his father dead?

When his mother first told him and his sister that their father died in the fighting, Raiden had been mad at his father for choosing to stay behind to save more people rather than be with them. But as he's grown older, he's felt proud to be his son. His father stayed behind while some knights, who's job was to protect the people of the Empire, ran with their tail between their legs. The knights had been in complete disarray because a couple of superior officers ran away. In the back of his mind, he had always blamed those knights for his father's death because they left their underlings in such a disorganized mess.

But now learning this, Raiden began to wonder if his father would have still lived if this unknown guy hadn't kill him. It angered Raiden thinking that his father would still be with them if not for that unknown assailant. His mother wouldn't look so sad all the time and Elena wouldn't be as reserved or bitter. He hated a man he didn't even know.

"Raiden, it's lunch time," Rune's voice suddenly brought him out of his thoughts. He hadn't realized that class was over and that most of his classmates went outside to eat. "It's not like you to sleep through lunch," Rune tried to joke.

Raiden only nodded as he stood up to go out to their usual spot outside. It wasn't until they sat down next to the school building that Rune noticed Raiden had nothing. "Where's your lunch?" He asked.

That was when Raiden realized he didn't have lunch. "I guess I forgot to make it this morning," Raiden said with a shrug.

Rune shook his head. "Just what were you doing last night? It's not like you to forget lunch." Raiden could hear Rune getting his lunch out and started cutting everything in half. He held up half his sandwich for Raiden and said, "You can have half of mine. You're going to be cranky the rest of the day if you don't eat. And then you have to help Mr. Regis after school, right?"

Raiden accepted the food. "Thanks," Raiden said. But he didn't start eating. He just stared at the food in his head.

His friend had taken few bites before he noticed. "Okay, you're really starting to worry me," Rune started to say. "Is everything okay? Is your mom okay?" Rune sounded very concern.

"I overheard my mom and Paul last night," Raiden began saying without thinking. Rune was the first person he'd really talked to. His mother had government business to attend to that morning, his sister was still asleep by the time he left, and Paul was also asleep on the couch. Not that he wanted to talk to them about this. "Paul was talking about how he thinks some guild killed my dad."

There was silence between them and Raiden realized what he had just told his friend. He quickly glanced at Rune and saw a speechless expression, probably the same Raiden had when he first heard it. "What?" Rune questioned.

Raiden now wished he'd kept his mouth shut. Yuri Lowell had been the closes thing Rune had ever had to a father. Rune's father, or sperm donor as Rita always called him, died before Rune was even born. Rune had cried even more than Raiden had when he learned of Yuri's death.

Raiden pulled his knees to his chest and rested his head on them. "I just don't know what I should do," Raiden admitted. There was no way he could forget what he heard or try to live the way he had the previous day. He felt like he should do something. It just wasn't right.

"What can we do?" Rune questioned. The two of them sat in silence and didn't even take another bite.

/~/~/

The rest of the school day past and Raiden had no idea what even happened the rest of the day. Rune didn't seem to pay much more attention than he did. The two of them didn't really say much more to each other as they went their separate ways.

Raiden was on his way to Mr. Regis' bookstore and wasn't paying attention at all. He never even saw Paul and never would have noticed if he hadn't run into him. "Geeze kid, I didn't think school would have drained your soul that much," Paul joked. "I kept calling your name. Do you need to clean your ears?"

"Sorry Paul. I guess it's just been a long day," Raiden told him. He then tried to walk around the guild member. "I need to hurry up to the bookshop for my punishment."

But Paul stopped him. "I've talked to Mr. Regis for you and said you weren't feeling well. So I thought while I'm still in town, we could go hunt some monsters together."

"My mom is still in meetings, isn't she?" Raiden asked.

"Yep, and I'm pretty sure Regis is going to forget I was even there. So come on, let's go. We've got to do something together." Paul had his arm around Raiden's neck and was leading him back to his house so he could "borrow" two of his dad's old swords.

Any other days, Raiden would have easily gone along with him without second thought that his mother was likely to catch them. Maybe it would be good to try and get his mind off what he heard Paul said. But as they were getting closer to his house, Raiden couldn't stop thinking about his dad. He knew he wouldn't like Raiden dwelling on him like that. But Raiden couldn't help but feel like he was wasting time. Like there was something else he should be doing to right this wrong.

"Seriously kid, are you really not feeling well?" Paul suddenly asked.

Raiden then realized they were in front of his house again. Paul must have been talking the whole time and Raiden didn't catch a word of it. "I heard you and mom talking last night," Raiden just blurted out like vomit. He didn't want to think of an excuse for his behavior. In fact, Raiden was hoping that Paul would tell him the whole story.

The guild member was startled. Obviously he thought that was the last thing Raiden would say. His mood dropped too and he began to rub the back of his neck. "Your sister didn't over hear, did she?" Paul asked instead.

"No," Raiden told him. He didn't want to imagine how his sister would react if she knew. Elena became even more reserved then she already was when their mom told them their dad wouldn't be coming home again.

Paul let out a breath. "Good. She doesn't need to think of that," Paul muttered. But he quickly glanced at Raiden and said, "I only found out recently. It's been tearing me up inside because I wasn't sure if I should tell you. I'm not sure how long Ms. Estelle has known, but she didn't want either of you knowing. She thought the two of you could handle the grief better if you knew he died protecting people. I know I have trouble thinking of the good he did when all I can think about is the bastard that killed him."

Four years ago, the Empire was attacked while they were rebuilding Zaphias. The suddenness and the lack of knights posted at Zaphias at the time gave the Renegades an easy victory. They didn't stop there and they instantly started to expand their territory in Ilyccia. Once they wiped out the people rebuilding Zaphias, they captured a place called Deidon Hold less than a day later. They didn't stop there. They attack Halure next, the town Raiden grew up in. The people of Halure had no clue what had happened to Zaphias or Deiden Hold. The knights that normally just fought monsters had no idea what to do with a small army of people attacking them.

The knights were doing everything to could just to hold them back so the civilians could escape. And Raiden's dad stayed behind to hold them off because the knights were struggling to do their job after so many fled. And his dad never came back to them.

After the assault on Halure, the renegades didn't attack anymore. The knights did try to retake their land. But they didn't return either. The guilds would have helped, but that was when relations were growing uneasy between them. The Emperor had been killed prior to the renegades showing up and to this day no one was any closer to figuring out who killed Emperor Ioder. The popular rumor was the putting blame on the guilds. Particularly the Union order Circus Anarchy to do the job and claim that the guild wasn't an official member of the Union. But there was no proof of that. With such accusations on top of many other issues, relations became horrible between the Empire and the guilds.

Raiden looked at Paul and started asking, "Paul, you said you knew who the guy was, right?"

Suddenly Paul put both of his hands on Raiden's shoulders and the sudden movement startled Raiden. "Don't even think about it kid," Paul warned. "You know your old man wouldn't want you to spend a second thought on this. He'd want you to live your life to the fullest and not wasting it trying to avenge him. Hell, he'd probably come back from the dead just to kick your ass for doing something like that." Paul tried to joke, but he felt he same a Raiden. He wanted to make the person who killed Yuri pay. But the guild member was trying to honor what Yuri really would have wanted.

Raiden knew he needed to do the same. That is what his dad would have wanted. But then why did it feel wrong? He he needed to do something.

When Raiden didn't say anything, Paul nudged him toward the house. "Why don't you take the rest of the day to rest up and think this out," he told him. "If you're this out of it, you shouldn't be fighting monsters."

Raiden didn't object. He nodded and walked in the house. He guessed Paul needed to go fight some monsters to get his mind off things. Just lying on his bed didn't sound like such a bad idea.

When he walked in, he realized that his sister was home and sitting in the living room. There was a brief moment of panic that she might have overheard them. But she was in her regular seat with a book in hand. The dog wasn't in her lap like normal and Raiden was sure that she was giving him a dirty look as she walked over to a pillow in the corner. Elena didn't seem to care about anything else other than her book. Raiden relaxed a bit.

"I thought you were supposed to be helping out with Mr. Regis?" Elena asked without bothering to look up at him.

"Are you planning on telling mom?" Raiden asked instead. He really didn't care if she did tell on him to their mom. But for his sister, he wanted to keep up normalcy for her.

Suddenly he could hear a loud growl come from her stomach. It was followed by her practically ordering, "Make me some noodles and I'll keep quiet."

"You haven't eaten all day, have you?" She probably hadn't moved from that spot. In fact, the clothes she was wearing looked like what she slept in. His sister really was an introverted bookworm. She knew how to cook, but didn't like putting a book down long enough to make anything. Making a sandwich was too much time for her.

"You have my demands," Elena said flatly.

"Fine, fine," Raiden muttered as he walked into the kitchen to heat up some water. Once Elena was out of sight, he let his demeanor drop. What was he supposed to do now? Not telling Elena or letting his mother think he doesn't know was his plan right now. But what about after that?

As he was adding extra noodles for himself since his hunger was starting to get the better of him, there was a knock at the door. For some reason, Raiden thought Elena would answer it. But he quickly came to his senses when he heard the second knock and the dog start to bark.

So he left the pot of noodles unattended. He quickly spared a glance at his sister who was still nose deep in the book and seemed unaware of what was going on around her. Raiden wasn't sure who was at the door, but he wasn't expecting three knights standing there when he opened it. What made it worse was that one of them was Captain Kamal.

"Ah, is the magistrate in?" The captain of the knights of the village asked Raiden in a surprisingly civil tone considering Raiden had just fought with his son just yesterday.

"She's at the meeting…" Raiden started to answer, but realized that the knight should already know that. In fact, shouldn't he be in that same meeting? Oh no, was he here to throw him in jail for fighting Will while his mother wasn't looking?

"I've heard of some talk that someone from the Union has been seen coming and going from the magistrate's home. For her and her children's safety, I would like to inspect the place to see if anything was stolen," the knight told him.

 _That's what this is about?_ "Well there's no need," Raiden told him. "The guy people have been seeing is a family friend and he's staying with us."

Raiden started to close the door thinking this was over, when the captain put his hand on the door to stop him. "We still need to talk with him and make sure everything is okay here," the knight told him. "It's just rather suspicious that someone from the Union has been hanging around the magistrate's home."

"Well Paul isn't here so you'll have to come back later," Raiden told him and tried to close the door again and didn't care is he caught the captain's fingers in the process.

But the knight was stern and managed to open the door wide open. "I insist that we search for you and the magistrate's safety," he kept saying.

 _What does he think Paul is planning?_ Raiden thought bitterly. He was getting tired of hearing of all these paranoid knights think every guild member was looking to start a war.

Suddenly Raiden felt himself being shoved and he lost his balance. He first thought was that it was the knights who shoved past his to get in. But he looked up and saw that it was Elena who had pushed him out of the way and was standing in front of the knights.

"If you're here to search then I assume that means you have a search and seize warrant. Knights can't just enter any residence unless they have a warrant. So let me see it," Elena stated in her regular monotone voice and held out her hand.

"We wouldn't dream of illegally searching the magistrates home," Captain Kamal said. "We of course have one, but you probably wouldn't be able to understood anything it said."

Elena's eyes narrowed a bit and Raiden was sure he was the only one who noticed it and he got back to his feet. His sister put both of her hands on her hips. "You think I'm some sort of idiot? I could probably recite what the warrant is supposed to say. So you can either show me the dumb thing or you can leave."

Similar to how Paul always got flustered when arguing with Elena, the knight still tried to reason with her. "We are here for your protection. The man you're housing could be a spy."

"Obviously you don't have one," Elena told him plainly. "You made sure our mother was at a meeting and thought you could persuade my dim-witted brother into letting you search our house. So good-bye." She caught them off guard that she was able to close the door on them and lock it.

"What was with the "dim-witted" comment?" Raiden asked as he could hear the knight captain banging on the door. But he was glad that she spared a moment away from her books.

"You better check on the noodles," she quickly changed the subject.

"Crap." Raiden quickly ran back into the kitchen as he realized that he could hear the water boiling over. He'd completely forgotten about the food.

Thankfully it was just starting to boil over so it wasn't nearly as big a mess as he thought.

Now the two of them were enjoying a bowl of noodles. Elena looked as content as she could when she didn't have her nose up a book. In fact, it was surprising she didn't have a book with her now as she read. But that may have been that their mother had pretty much trained them that the dinner table was for eating only. Of course Elena was scarfing the noodles down as fast as she could so she could return to reading.

"Why do you think those knights wanted to search our house?" Raiden asked out of the blue. He wanted to keep his sister away from her books longer. Maybe the two of them could talk like they used to before she became a recluse.

Elena had a mouthful of noodles hanging out of her mouth and she quickly slurped them up in a very unladylike manner. Their dad would have laughed at the sight while their mother lightly scolded her for her table manners but more to their father for encouraging her. Where did those days go?

"They probably wanted to frame Paul as a spy," Elena theorized as she prepared her next bite. "They would have turned in a spy that could have potentially saved the empire and they would have gotten a promotion. I'm sure that's what they were thinking."

Raiden couldn't help but grin and rest his chin in his hand as he began to tease her, "So little Elena stopped her reading so she could help out Paul. Better be careful, I may start thinking you have a crush on him."

There came a swift kick to his shin that made Raiden let out a painful yelp. "As if," Elena said with her eyes narrowed as Raiden. "Paul's a member of Brave Vesperia, if he got arrested it'd reflect badly on them. Not to mention people would start to think our mom is incapable of being the magistrate and rumors will start that she was seduced by that useless bum." She was very serious in her claim.

"Did you read that plot point in a book?" Raiden asked as he kept rubbing his leg. It was still throbbing.

"In two," Elena told him and leaned back in her chair. "It's not that far-fetched."

"I guess not," Raiden commented. But how would they even go about framing Paul? Their mother was the magistrate and a good portion of the people in the village knew Paul. No one would believe it. "But I'm a bit tempted to tell Paul about this."

Another kick came in the same spot. "Tell him and you'll regret it," Elena threatened. Just as Raiden began to think that maybe she did have a crush on the guild member, Elena kicked him again. "Get your mind out of the gutter, that's creepy."

"Yeah," Raiden muttered as he rubbed his leg. It was really throbbing now. As he was holding his leg, he suddenly decided to ask, "Do you ever intend to go back to school?"

He really thought she was going to kick him again. But she only said, "What's the point in going to school? I can learn everything from books."

"Come on, don't you want to socialize with other people other than your family and Sable?" Raiden asked. Hearing her named called, the dog gave Raiden what sounded like a warning bark. Sable was pretty good at acting like she understood what people said. But she was no Repede. That dog always seemed to know and dad seemed to know what he was saying. Although thinking back, Raiden was just a kid and believed anything his dad said. He was probably just pretending to entertain his kids.

"While I wouldn't mind having a more intellectual conversation that you can't provide, you, mom, and Sable are all I need," Elena said and ate another mouthful of noodles.

"What are you going to do when you're older? You can't stay here forever."

"You're one to talk considering you need to make a decision soon," Elena snapped. She picked up her bowl and drained all remaining liquids. "You cause mom a lot more trouble than me. So I don't want to hear you telling me what to do."

With that, Elena left the table and picked up her book before marching up to her room with Sable right behind her. Raiden could hear her walking up the steps until he heard her slam the door.

Raiden laid his head on the table. _I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you Ellie._ If only he had known what her classmates were doing to her, his sister wouldn't be like this. She'd actually smile, leave the house, maybe even have friends her own age. But with what happened to her the last time she was at school and the loss of their dad, Elena's never been the same.

/~/~/

"-up. Raiden, wake up," he heard his mother say and became aware that she was gently shaking him.

His eyes popped open as he realized he fell asleep at the table. He quickly sat up and saw that he had drooled a bit. As he was wiping his mouth, his mother put her hand on his head. "Are you okay? You don't normally sleep during the day. You're not feeling sick, are you?"

It was just like his mother to assume that. She always seemed to give him the benefit of the doubt regardless of all his trouble he has caused her in the past. She thought he was sick and that's why he wasn't helping Mr. Regis. "I just didn't sleep at all last night," Raiden told her.

His mother let out a tired sigh, "This is you're one free night, I don't want to hear any more excuses about not helping Mr. Regis."

"Yes, ma'am," Raiden told her. He was going to start cleaning up the bowls that were still on the table, but then he noticed that it was dark outside. "Are you just getting home?" He asked his mother.

"Yes, no one could agree on anything and Captain Kamal was late."

 _I wonder why?_ Raiden wondered bitterly. The knight was really wasting time like that? "What was the meeting over?" Raiden asked.

But his mother shook his head. "Nothing you need to worry about. Why don't you go ask your sister what she wants for supper?"

His mother started going into the kitchen and Raiden asked, "The empire isn't going to war, is it?" Why else would the meeting be that long?

She spun around. "No, no. It hasn't come to that yet." She quickly walked over and put her hands on his shoulders while forcing a smile. "Look, right now, your job is to go to school, learn, and decide what you want to do. So let me worry about everything else. Okay?"

His mother's eyes were looking very tired. But they also looked like she wanted to collapse and cry. But she wouldn't. How much of it was because of what happened to his dad? She was always pushing herself like this so he and his sister wouldn't worry about stuff. He wondered how long she had known how his father died. She clearly only wanted them to think fondly of the memory of their father instead of just focusing on his death. Raiden could safely say he did sort of miss those days. He rarly thought of any of the good memories since he found out.

"Okay," Raiden muttered. Hearing what happened to his father was consuming a lot of his thoughts. With everything that was going on and everything his mother had to do, Raiden felt like he had to do something. He was just a teenage boy, there was nothing he could do about the tensions between the guilds and the Empire. But there was something he could do to help put a lot of people's mind at ease. Maybe it would even ease his mother's. If he could at least do that, then it would be worth it.

/~/~/

 _An eggbear can be very territorial and make marks on trees to let other monsters…_ Rune let his head fall to his desk. He was so bored by this. His mother said he needed to write a five-page report about the biological make of a monster, the ecosystem they live in, and what role they play in that system. He wanted so badly to work on his formulas. He had gotten pretty close to figuring out the Eruption spell before his mother took his notebook of working formulas and all his book about formals as part of his punishment.

The sooner he wrote this stupid report, the sooner he could get back to his formulas. But it was just so boring. He would have to keep reading about that stupid, scary monster. Plus he was liable to dream about an eggbear eating him.

Rune was really hoping to get this all done tonight. But instead he only got one page written. He really needed his formulas. They helped him make sense everything around him. Hearing Raiden tell him what really happened to Mr. Lowell was like being told he died again. He just had a hard time believing someone wanted him dead that badly. Of course his mother always told him what a trouble maker Mr. Lowell was and how he had better not turn out like him. To him, there were two Yuri Lowells; one that was in all those stories the adults told and the one he grew up with.

When he got home that day, he asked his mother how Mr. Lowell died. She was startled to say the less. That was maybe one of the last things his mother thought he would ask that day. "What do you mean how he died? That idiot probably got careless. He pretty much thought that he was invincible," she told him plainly. But Rune could tell that his mother missed her old friend dearly, she just wouldn't admit it. The two of them had a very…interesting friendship to say the less.

Of course if Rune was feeling this way, he couldn't imagine how Raiden was feeling. What did it feel like to lose a father? Rune never meet his father. His mother and Mrs. Lowell said he was eaten by a monster before he was born. So you can't miss what you don't have.

He had no pictures of his father and he of course went by his mother's name Mordio. "I'm the one rising him so he sure as hell will have my name and not that idiot of a sperm donor," is probably what his mother said when she named him. But apparently his father, Liam, had mentioned that if they ever had a kid he wanted to name them Rune. Regardless if he had been a boy or a girl. Most of his research was how to use runes on old blastia bases and converting them to new technology. Rune was told he was a pretty consumed in his research. With two people so involved with their research, it was strange they got together long enough to have a child.

So his name and his father's old research was the only thing he had of him. Raiden had memories of being with his dad. Rune had nothing.

Rune took one of the blank pages he was supposed to use and started writing down formulas he had memorized in his head. He needed to get his mind on something else, something more concrete. He wrote the ones he knew first and then started writing the ones he was working on from memory.

"That doesn't look like biology," someone said and it made Rune crumple the evidence against him.

He knew it wasn't his mother's voice, but it still had him worried that if he looked, his mother would be behind him. But instead it was only Raiden standing next to him.

"Rai-" Rune started to say very startled by his friend.

But Raiden quickly covered his mouth and shushed him. "If you raise your voice, your mom is going to hear us and then I'm going to tell her that you told me to come here," his friend warned him.

When Raiden removed his hand, the first thing Rune said was, "We're going to get into trouble. How did you even get here?"

"Obviously I snuck out and climbed through you're window. Seriously buddy, you should lock that if you don't want people climbing through," Raiden told him plainly before he sat on his bed.

 _Even if I did lock it, you'd still find a way in,_ Rune thought bitterly. After all, Karol taught Raiden how to pick simple locks. But he dropped it when he saw that Raiden looked the same as he did when they were at school. Now he was reminded again about what happened to Mr. Lowell. "So what couldn't wait until tomorrow?" Rune asked.

"My mom was in a meeting all day today," Raiden quickly answered.

"Is the Empire declaring war?" Rune asked.

Raiden rubbed his eyes like he was tired. "She told me no. But some knights were looking for Paul earlier and on my way here I saw more knight out than normal."

"We are a frontier town, maybe they thought we needed more protection," Rune suggested. But he knew that wasn't the case. The monsters were relatively calm in this area and one rarely came close to the village.

"More protection from the guilds maybe," Raiden muttered. He then shook his head. "Look Rune, I came because I'm needing you to talk me out of something," Raiden finally told him. "Now that the Empire is closer to war and hearing about what happened to my dad…" Raiden paused as he rested his head in his hands.

It was rare that Raiden would openly say that he knew he had a bad idea and he needed to be talked out of it. But it really worried Rune that he might not be able to this time given how serious his friend was.

"I just keep thinking about the guy who killed my dad. Mom is too busy trying to keep peace to seek out justice. And all I'm doing is going to school. I'm not working towards anything or helping anyone. I don't even know what I'm wanting to do. I just…I keep causing problems," Raiden had to force out the last bit.

Rune really didn't like where this was going.

"The only goal I can think of is to find the guy who killed my dad," Raiden finally said. "At least that way I feel like I would do something good. It's crazy, right?"

"Of course it's crazy," Rune told him as he fought the urge not to yell that to him. They both needed to keep their voice down. "Your dad was the best swordsmen we knew and someone managed to kill him. You wouldn't be able to stand a chance against him."

"That's why I came to you so you can help talk me out of it. It really is a crazy idea," Raiden admitted.

"It is. Your mom would really worry about you," Rune just muttered as he began to un-crumble his paper with the formulas on it.

"Gotta admit buddy, not you best talk down," Raiden said with a very small laugh at the end.

"Well you're going to go regardless of what I say, aren't you?"

There was a small pause between them before Raiden answered. "Probably."

It was Rune's turn to stay quiet as he just looked down at the incomplete formulas. "Will you tell me when you're going to go so I can prepare for the journey too?" Rune found himself asking.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Raiden's head shot up and had a bewildered expression as he looked at Rune. "Wait, you're wanting to come?"

"Yep," was all Rune said as picked up his pen and started working on his formulas again. He was going to need new spells if they were actually going to do this.

Just then Raiden pulled Rune's pen out of his hand and gently hit the top of his head. "Are you crazy? You just said it was going to be dangerous, and you want to come?"

Rune pushed Raiden's hand off his head and took his pen back. Trying his best to keep his voice down, Rune snapped. "So it's okay that you go? Are you kidding me? You have little experience fighting alone."

Raiden seemed startled by Rune's flash of anger. He was told that it was at these moments when people said he looked like Rita. Raiden rubbed the back of his head. "Come on Rune, you can give me some credit," he muttered.

"As sad as it is," Rune began to admit, "you're my best friend. I am not just going to stay in the village while you're out there. Don't you dare leave this village and make me worry about you." Rune took a moment to breathe and calm down. Honestly he was just as startled as Raiden right now. He found it hard to believe that he himself was agreeing to do this. "I don't think we can actually stand up to that guy, but I am curious to know what kind of person they are. We can at least found of who it is."

Raiden was being uncharacteristically quiet. And it was when Rune was about to ask him if he was okay when they heard his mother shout, "Where did you put my book on formulas for barriers? I can't find it anywhere."

Both of them would have preferred to be caught stealing by the knights than be caught by Rita. She was far more dangerous and scary. "I put all your books on the bookshelf," Rune shouted and tried to keep his voice as steady as possible. Raiden shot him a look that said he needed to act more like he wasn't hiding a dead body. But his mother was too busy thinking of her research to notice a difference. Probably.

"I'm not seeing it," she called back. She always complained about not being able to find anything after Rune cleaned the lab.

"I organized them by subject and alphabetized them," Rune yelled.

At this time Raiden was making his way to the window. There was only a matter of seconds before Rune's mother got fed up with looking and come to drag Rune to show her where he put the book. Rune looked at his friend and quickly told him in a whisper, "We are talking more about this tomorrow at school."

Raiden nodded before jumping through the window. Hopefully his friend wouldn't leave without him.

Just seconds after Raiden left. The door to Rune's room burst open with his mother there. "How in the world did you decide to organize it. I can't find any of my books," she said.

Rune had jumped up as soon as his mother opened the door. "S-sorry about that. I'll show you," Rune tried to say as calmly as possible and nearly broke out into a sprint as he passed his mother. He was trying to act like he wasn't hiding anything.

But by the way she sighed and was probably shaking her head, she probably figured that he was up to something. How in the world would she react is she knew he and Raiden were thinking about running off on their own in search of a dangerous killer?


	4. Chapter 4

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 4: Let Our Journey Begin

"So are we really doing this?" Raiden asked Rune. It was lunch, but it was raining so they had to eat in the classroom. Which also meant they had to whisper their plans on running away. The good thing though was that Will was keeping his distance after the fight they had. There was still a light shade of yellow from a black eye Raiden had given him despite the healing his mother did. Raiden wondered if his mother did that intentionally.

Raiden had never seen Rune looked so spastic. Not even when he had broken one of his mother's tools. He kept bouncing his feet under the desk and gripped his knees. "I said we were going to, didn't I?"

"Well I'm not sure about having a traveling companion who's going to be this twitchy the whole time," Raiden muttered as he scratched the back of his head.

"How else am I supposed to act? We're in big trouble if we're caught," Rune said in a harsh whisper.

"With our moms," Raiden pointed out. "It's not like we're planning on committing any crimes. What do you think we're going to do?"

"I might as well be committing a crime," Rune muttered. "Why aren't _you_ more freaked out about this? This is going to be dangerous."

"I don't know," Raiden just said with a shrug. They were going to be looking for the man who killed his father, Raiden knew this was going to be dangerous. Especially if they confronted that person. But for some reason Raiden just didn't. If anything, he was more worried about his friend. "Look, Rune, if you don't want to come, then don't."

"Will you quit telling me what to do, I'm coming and that's final," Rune snapped a little too loudly and that made some of their classmates turn and look at them. Rune's face turned red and he dropped his head on his desk. "Are you sure you don't want to wait a couple more days?" Raiden was able to make out Rune's muffled speech. "Maybe we could go with Paul when he has to leave? I'm sure if we just explain-"

"He'd just try to talk us out of this," Raiden quickly told him. He would like nothing more than to travel with Paul, but he was sure the guild member wouldn't budge on it. Plus, Raiden wasn't sure how much more suspense Rune could take before he just blurted out that they were planning on sneaking off. The sooner they left, hopefully, the better Rune would get.

"So have you thought about where we're heading? Where do we even start finding an assassin?" Rune asked as he sat back up.

"Well I think it's best that our first stop should be Aurnion," Raiden told him. Instead of paying attention to class or really trying on their magi technology test, Raiden had been thinking about the incredibly risky journey they were about to go on. "When I overheard Paul, he said that the guy who killed my dad may have been a knight briefly. So surely they'd have records."

"I don't think they'll let just anyone look at those," Rune pointed out.

"But my mom's pretty good friends with the commandant, maybe I could convince him."

"I guess the only thing we could do is ask and see."

"Yeah, and we'll play it by ear then," Raiden further explained.

Suddenly they heard someone clearing their throat. "Mr. Lowell and Mr. Mordio," their teacher's voice suddenly said. "If you're done with your conversation, would you care to pay attention to the lecture?

Rune sat up straighter and pulled out his notebook for notetaking. "I'll meet you at your house at midnight," Raiden quickly whispered before he turned around to his own desk.

"Mr. Lowell, I would think you would want to pay extra attention seeing as you're grades leave much to be desired. And I'm sure you're test this morning won't be too different from the norm, will it?" The teacher went on say.

Raiden just ignored him and the rest of the class that let out small giggles. He was really debating if he should try sleeping through the rest of this class so he'd be well rested for tonight.

/~/~/

Before he left school, Raiden reminded Rune of when and where they were meeting before he raced off to Mr. Regis' book store. He was pretty sure he had never worked so fast before. He was hoping that Mr. Regis might let him go early if he got most of the work done. He wanted to get home and prepare.

Well Mr. Regis let him go home about thirty minutes early and he was pretty sure it was only because he forgot what time he normally closed the shop. Raiden practically burst into the house to see his mother and sister sitting at the couch going over whatever lesson she had for that day. Paul was probably doing a job or just out doing whatever Paul does with his free time.

His mother checked the clock. "You're back early," his mother said.

Raiden scratched the back of his head. "Mr. Regis just decided to close up since there was no one there," Raiden answered and he sort of sounded like he was making it up. It was almost like he was expecting his mother to start questioning him.

But she didn't. She just stood up and said, "Well, I'll get you some dinner ready. I'm afraid the three of us didn't leave much left for you."

"No need, I'll get it," Raiden quickly told her and practically ran into the kitchen before his mother could move. He needed to get some food for their journey and now would be the best time to get it. His mother and sister wouldn't think twice about all the noise he was making in the kitchen if he was making himself dinner. If he waited until they were all asleep, he ran the risk of waking them up. Especially Paul since he slept in the living room. Why couldn't this have been the one time he actually had gald for an inn?

Thankfully his mother kept food satchels in the kitchen and he quickly started putting non-perishable food in them. There were plenty of apples. He even grabbed enough ingredients to make sandwiches. It would take two days to get to Aurnion. So he needed to make sure they got enough to make it to the city. Rune will probably bring more than enough food too. If he doesn't stuff his bag with research notes and magical formulas.

They would also need some gels. You couldn't go on a proper trip without gels. He had a couple in his room. But where did his mother keep the rest? He may have to borrow a couple from her. He really wished he had asked Rune if he had any gels. Hopefully his friend would bring them if he has them. Raiden also had some gald that should be enough for food and an inn when they reached the city. Of course he had no idea what would happen after they find out all they could from Aurnion.

"Raiden, do you need any help?" The voice of his mother said right behind him.

Raiden quickly tried to get his eyes to not look like they were about to pop out of his head and pushed the bag on the counter. He spun around to face his mother while looking like he wasn't planning on leaving home in a few hours. "I'm just deciding what eat," he told her and made sure that his mother couldn't see the bag behind him. "I've got it. You can go back to Elena."

He really sounded like he was hiding something. _Damn it, stop acting like Rune,_ he scolded himself. He shouldn't be having this much difficultly acting like he wasn't planning anything. He was used to pretty much lying to his mother.

His mother held her hands in front of her and asked, "Is everything alright. You've been acting strange the last couple of days."

He should have known that she would notice that his mood changed when he learned about his dad. So he put on his regular smile and tried to act like he normally would. "I'm just ready for school to done with." If they went through with this tonight, it was basically already over for him.

"I know you could care less about classes," his mother began to say, "but you should try to enjoy it while you can."

"Un-huh," was all Raiden could say as he was hoping his mom would just leave so he could get back to preparing for his departure.

"Listen Raiden," his mother had a serious tone. "I know I haven't been around a lot lately because of council business. But I want you to know you can always tell me what's wrong. You shouldn't feel like telling me what's bothering you is just adding to my problems. Being a mother is my number one job."

"Mom, where is this coming from?" Raiden asked. Although he was pretty sure that it was just her mom sense. She seemed to know when something was wrong and would "unintentionally" guilt them into confessing what was wrong. Raiden says unintentionally because his mother would just let them know they can talk to her. But at the same time she made them feel bad because they didn't tell her. He'd seen it work on his dad a couple of times.

"Paul told me this morning what's been bothering you," she answered.

Raiden's face instantly dropped. "Paul told you?" She knew that he knew about what happened to Dad? He was hoping to avoid this and didn't want to try and upset his mother with unpleasant thoughts. He couldn't blame Paul for telling her. She probably guilt him into telling her too, all because she wanted to know what was wrong with her son.

Estelle quickly waved her hands. "Please don't get the wrong idea. I'm so happy you have Paul and tell him things. I'm sure it was much more comfortable talking to him than your mother about this."

She was taking this…well. This was not how Raiden thought this conversation would go. But he scratched the back of his head as he waited for this conversation to get uncomfortable. His mom might even tear up as they talked about the day they lost Dad.

His mother grabbed his hands. "Paul told me not to mention anything and that everything will be fine. But I just want to let you know that there is nothing wrong with you and that you'll meet the right person someday."

Raiden just blinked at her. This really wasn't how this conversation was supposed to go. "Mom? What are you even talking about?" He asked.

"Paul told me the reason you seemed so down lately is because you asked out a girl you liked and she said no."

"What?" Was all Raiden could get out as he fought to urge not say what was really thinking at his mother. _I'm kicking Paul's ass._ That bastard must have made something up just so Estelle would quit guilting him into telling her what was really bugging Raiden.

"Look, you still have your whole life ahead of you. You should just focus on yourself for now," his mother went on. "And if you do ever get into a relationship, you need to make sure you are a perfect gentleman. You don't need to have intimacy to have a good relationship. Your father and I-"

"Mom," Raiden interrupted. He had pulled his hands away from hers and covered his face that he was sure was red. He really, _really_ didn't want to continue where this conversation was going. "Trust me Mom, I'm already over it." He just decided to go with it. He didn't want to explain why Paul would lie about what was wrong with Raiden. He just hoped that she wouldn't continue this.

His outburst seemed to have startled her a bit. But she said, "Alright then. But if anything else is bothering you, you'll tell me, right?"

"Yes mom," he told her has he relaxed now that the relationship conversation was over. Now he just needed her to leave so he can get back getting food together.

"Are you going ahead and getting your lunch ready for tomorrow?" His mother asked as she reached behind him for the bag he had been trying to hide from her. He must have been squirming too much. He wanted to take the bag out of her hands, but that would be too suspicious. When she looked in it, she said in almost a laugh, "Are you going on an all apple diet? You've also got enough stuff to make a few sandwiches."

Raiden thought quickly of a reason and said the first thing that came to mind. "Some of the other kids don't seem to bring enough to eat so I thought I'd bring extras just in case."

His mother had a wide smile on her face. "That's so kind of you. You should put a few more apples in there. Oh, and I'll give you some cucumbers and tomatoes. Those will go great on the sandwiches." She started putting what she had told him in the bag for him.

He tried to keep his smile on his face, but it started to hurt because what he was doing to his mother. He was officially the worst son ever. His mother was packing his bag for running off.

/~/~/

It was well past midnight and Raiden and Rune were almost out of view of the village. They had paused to look back at it for a moment to silently say good-bye to it and their families. Raiden was use to sneaking out of his house even with Paul sleeping on the couch. There also wasn't as many knights out, so sneaking past them had been easy. Raiden had been grateful for that since Rune was a nervous wreck the whole time. He was pretty sure the young mage was about to run out and tell the knights what they were up to. But here they were. Yet Rune wasn't budging now that they were almost out of sight of the village they had spent the last four years in.

Was it home? The place wasn't. But there family was. This would be the first time they would be apart. So in a sense, they were leaving home.

"You want to go back?" Raiden asked.

Rune shrugged his shoulders. "Only if you go back."

"Fine, let's get go then," Raiden said and started walking off and Rune quickly caught up with him.

"So after we ask the commandant about knight records, what then?" Rune asked.

"I guess it'll just depend on what we find," Raiden told him. "Maybe after Aurnion we should just head to Dahngrest and ask Karol what he knows more about Circus of Anarchy."

"Going into the enemy's city, isn't that a bit too reckless?" Rune asked.

"Look, when we get there we'll act like we're visiting Brave Vesperia and that we're looking to join a guild. What better way to gather information on a guild."

There was a long pause from Rune. "Hopefully it won't come to that," Raiden heard Rune mutter. But he quickly added, "If we do go to Dahngrest, maybe all of Mr. Lowell's allies will want to help. He had more positive connections in the guild cities than in the Empire."

"Only one way to find out," Raiden said as he quickened his pace. "Come on Rune, we need to make more distance before we take a break."

Raiden could hear Rune rummaging through something in his large pack. Suddenly Raiden notice there was some light behind him. Now that no one could catch them, Rune pulled out a lantern.

The two of them started walking on the road and it wasn't long before some nearby bushes started rustling. Rune quickly got behind Raiden and grabbed his arm. It surprised Raiden that his friend didn't practically jump on him.

As Raiden tried to shake Rune's hold on his arm off in case it was a dangerous monster, a poliwiggle wiggled out and bounced across the road. Rune hung his head low as he realized what got him so spooked. Raiden rolled his eyes at him and said, "This is going to be a long trip if you're going to be jumping at your own shadow." Then he started walking again.

"C-come on," Rune started to pout as he caught up. "That could have been anything."

Suddenly Raiden could hear more rustling. Only this time it sounded like something bigger was hiding. He stopped to try and figure out what it was, but Rune, remarkably, didn't hardly noticed. "It could have been critis wolf or even an eggbear. Both species wouldn't hesitate to attack us."

"Shut up," Raiden urged in a low voice.

The two of them were very still, but the creature didn't wait long. It slowly emerged and walked out like it was trying to block their path. It was a giant tortoise that had a very flat shell on it back. At first Raiden thought the monster would be something easy to avoid and they could go around it.

But the monster planted its feet then charged at them. It surprised Raiden that it could move as fast as it did. He barely had enough time to get both him and Rune out of the way. Raiden had pulled on Rune's collar and both of them tumbled to the ground in order to avoid the monsters.

Raiden was quick to his feet and pulled out one of his swords, while Rune struggled to stand back up with his large pack. "A-an erdas," Rune cried out.

"Doesn't look like it wants us to leave," Raiden quickly said. "I'll distract him while you get a spell ready." Raiden glance back and saw his friend get up and clasped his hands together that caused the charms on his wrist to glow.

Knowing that his friend was in the fight, Raiden charged at the monster. He swung his sword at the erdas' head, but it felt like he hit the shell. Raiden figured that he wouldn't have done much damage, but at least the monster's attention was on him now.

Raiden quickly circled around it to further distract the monster while Rune finished his spell. However, Raiden moved too fast because the monster lost interest in him and just turned back to Rune. The turtle was slow, but Raiden still wouldn't be able to make it to Rune in time. His feet were moving as fast as they could toward his friend.

"Rune, move," Raiden shouted and hoped he'd be able to hear him instead of concentrating on his spell.

Rune looked up and quickly stopped his casting. But he wasn't moving. The mage was frozen in place. Raiden could try using an arte on the monster, but that wouldn't stop Rune from getting hurt. He wasn't going to make it.

But then there was a flash from behind Rune and Raiden could hear a familiar voice call out "Impact". Suddenly the erdas reared up a bit and then fell to the ground. It stayed still for a moment before it got back up and instead of attacking them again, it started walking back into the bushes.

What Raiden saw was Rune on the ground and Elena standing in front of him with her fighting gloves on and in her boxer fighting stance. Her hair was in a ponytail. She was in a pair of lose shorts and a dark striped shirt that went to her elbows. She also wore a sleeveless dull yellow hoodie that was zipped up. Not far behind them was Sable wagging her tail as she caught up.

"Elena," was all Raiden could manage to say as he stared at his sister. Why was she here?

"Figures you idiots would already be in trouble," Elena said matter of factly. "Good things Sable and I got here when we did."

Raiden shook his head and marched over to his little sister. "Elena go home," he ordered even though he knew she wouldn't listen to him. "It's way too dangerous for you out here."

His sister but her hands on her hips and just looked mildly amused at his attempt to threaten her. "What? You going to tell mom I snuck out while you and Rune were also sneaking out?" She asked.

"Elena, for once will you listen to me," Raiden pleaded in a harsh tone. "This is something I have to do. Just trust me on this."

"Finding out who killed dad?" She asked.

She said it in such a flat tone that Raiden wasn't sure if he heard her right. He tired to play it off. "I don't know what are you talking about. Rune and I are just-"

But he didn't get to finish. "I overheard you and Paul. You idiots were right outside the window that was open. Obviously I heard you," she said in the same tone. "It also doesn't take a genius to figure out that you were planning on leaving. So I stayed up and followed you out here."

Raiden just stared at his sister. She knew. And she didn't seem to be acting any different. This was not how he expected her to react to the news. He was honestly expecting her to crack any minute. But Raiden quickly ignored all of that. He couldn't bring his little sister in all this. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but you can't come," Raiden told her. "What about mom? We both can't just leave her like this."

"At least I left a note for her," Elena argued. "Were you planning to just let her worry about where you were or why you left?"

"Wait, you didn't tell her we knew, did you?" Raiden quickly asked. He was hoping to spare his mother of that.

"Yeah, it's not fair to her to be the only one left out," Elena told her. "Mom and I aren't as fragile as you think. We don't need you to protect us."

 _That…actually kind of hurts,_ Raiden thought bitterly. Maybe he should have talked with his family about this. He probably still would have come to the same decision to leave though.

Rune moved to the middle of them. "Elena," he started to say weakly, "We both knew this was a stupid, dangerous idea. We just didn't want anyone else getting hurt because of this."

"Stay out of this Rune," Elena snapped and it caused Rune to back away. Raiden had been a bit surprised that his friend would even try to stand up to Elena since she always scared him a bit. When they were younger Elena seemed to make it her hobby to torment the older boy.

His sister then turned back to him and showed real anger. "I have as much right as you to go and figure out what really happened to dad. Plus neither of you know healing artes. I do."

There was a brief moment as the Lowell siblings just stared at each other. But then Rune spoke up again. "R-Raiden, I understand why you don't want your sister coming. But she does have a point. Having someone who can use healing artes as well as Elena would actually help."

And Raiden knew there was only some much he and Rune would be able to accomplish. And if either of them got hurt in a fight with a monster. Gels and seeing healers were expensive. And that was if they could get the injured to a city in time.

Raiden let out an irritated sound. "If I agree to letting you come, will you promise me you'll do what I say?" He asked.

Elena's smug look returned. "No promises. Besides, I don't need your permission. I'll just follow you like have been," she told him.

So that's why she didn't reveal herself till now. But that would be too dangerous. What if while she followed them she was ambushed. Because of her own stubbornness, she would be safer traveling with them. She wouldn't listen to Raiden. Maybe even Elena knew that and was planning for Raiden to be aware of that.

Raiden let out a sigh. "Fine," he said. "But I'm serious about listening to me."

"Sure Raiden," Elena said as she rolled her eyes. She even started walking without them.

"Elena, I'm your older brother, so that means you have to listen to me," Raiden called after her as he ran to catch up with her.

"Doesn't mean I'm going to," Elena replied. Sable even barked in agreement.

Rune just hung his head. "What have I gotten myself into," he muttered. Then he quickly ran to catch up before the two of them left him behind.

/~/~/

 **Skit: Bookworm**

 **Rune** : With Elena and Sable here, will we have enough food to make it to Aurnion?

 **Raiden** : Well I packed extras. So we should be able to make it to the city.

 **Rune** looking relieved: Good.

 **Raiden** : However if we take any longer than two days or get lost we'll be in trouble.

 **Rune** : What? Elena, please tell me you brought some extra food in that bag.

 **Elena** : It wouldn't fit in my bag.

 **Raiden** : What do you mean it wouldn't fit in your bag. What'd you bring?

 **Elena** : Books.

 **Raiden** startled: Seriously? That should have been the last thing you packed.

 **Rune** : She-she filled it with books…

 **Elena** : I brought the ones about monsters and plants. We'll be able to tell what's edible and what we could gather to sell for high prices. Much better for a long-term journey.

 **Raiden** looking a bit annoyed: Okay, you justified these two. But what about the other ones?

 **Elena** : Let's face it, I'm going to get bored with you two idiots and your conversations. So I'll need something to occupy my mind.

 **Raiden** : Yep there it is. *Sigh*

 **Rune** freaked out: This was such a bad idea…


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys, I have so much school work that I'm going to have to go on a month break so I can get it all done. I will be back in May with an update every week again. See you then.

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 5: The New Imperial City 

Turns out traveling with your paranoid best friend, your bookworm of a little sister, and her dog wasn't as fun as it sounds. Rune jumped at almost any sound, Elena read a book while they were walking, and Raiden was pretty sure Sable was just waiting for an opportunity to bite him.

They didn't get to Aurnion fast enough.

It was midday on the second day when they arrived at the large city gates. It had been years since Raiden had been to the city. His mother made the occasional visits since she was a member of the Imperial Council. But Raiden always chose to stay with Rune and his mom when she was gone since he was afraid what the other kids would do to Rune while he was gone. But Elena always went with their mom. Of course she started choosing to stay when their mother figured Raiden would be responsible on his own.

So while Raiden and Rune really looked like a bunch of country bumkins by staring in wonder at the large Imperial city, Elena looked bored. "At least this is better than when I come with Mom," Elena muttered.

"What do you mean?" Raiden then asked as he began to realize how much they were sticking out.

Elena threw her hands up and shook her head. "Every single time we would come to the city, she has to go into a history lesson of about the city. 'It's just so amazing how this city has grown ins just a few decades. It was once a field and now it's gown to such a grand city.' And it just goes on from there." Elena had mimicked the way their mother normally talked, especially when it sounded like she was quoting from a book, pretty accurately.

"So do you have an idea about where we should start looking?" Rune pipped up. Now that the wonder was over, Rune seemed to be a bit intimidated by the size of the city. Raiden would have to make sure he didn't lose Rune. The mage was likely to have a panic attack if he got on his own. But then he'd also have to make sure he kept an eye on Elena too. She was likely not pay any attention because she was busy reading.

Raiden had a vague idea of a plan. "Well, Mom's good friends with the commandant. So I figured if we use her name, we might be able to talk him into helping us," Raiden briefly explained.

"Is that really the best plan the two of you could come up with" Elena asked.

"Come on Elena," Raiden moaned. "We're just a bunch of teenagers with no authority. We might as use our mom's position to our benefit."

Elena didn't give an answer and just shrugged. Even Sable gave a yawn next to the girl. If Raiden had to guess, his sister probably had her own plan, but was going to let her brother fail before presenting her better idea.

That just made Raiden more determined to prove to his own younger sister that he knew better. "Come on, let's go find the commandant," Raiden told them. Then he started walking into the city.

"Yeah, I'm sure some random teenagers could get an audience with the commandant," Elena muttered and Raiden tried his best to ignore her as he led them into the city.

"So where do we even find the commandant?" Rune asked.

Even as they were walking, Elena had a book out reading. But she still participated in the conversation. "The commandant would either be in the knight's headquarters or at the palace with the Empress," she answered as she never looked up from her book. Raiden had a feeling that he would have to make sure that she didn't run into anything or anyone.

"Two places where people like us wouldn't be allowed in," Rune muttered in a dishearten tone.

"Like I said, that's when we'll use our mom's name," Raiden pointed out.

"You sure sound proud doing that," his sister said, again acting more interested in her book than actually helping out.

"Come on, we got to use what resources we have," Raiden defended. He never liked using his mom's status to get things. But desperate times, right? It would be like fighting without a sword when you have a sword with you. He was sure that if he said that out loud both Rune and Elena would call him an idiot.

"Well I guess we can check the Knight's Headquarters first," Rune suggested, he sounded like he was afraid the Lowell siblings would get into a fight. "Plus, I'm sure it would be easier to get in there than the palace."

Raiden kept walking and constantly had to tell Elena to put her book down. She finally did, but Raiden was pretty sure that she only did it because she thought he would get lost without her help.

They asked the first knight they saw inside the city for directions to the Knight's Headquarters. The knight seemed hesitant to give that information and eyed them suspiciously. Elena then lied and said they were to make a delivery there. Then they gave the directions.

"There's no way that peon would have believed us if we told him who our mom is," Elena defended.

Raiden at least agreed that the knight would have at least wanted to ask too many questions and waste their time. But Elena was being a bit over cautions. She must be playing a plot point from some book she read. So he let it slid. A part of him was happy to see her functioning well outside the house.

The Knight's Headquarters was a huge building that was just a little ways from the castle. It was four stories high and had both the Imperial and knight banners on the walls. Two knights stood on guard by the gate that surrounded the building.

As they approached, the two knights stopped them. "This is no place for children, go on," one of them said as he tried to shoo them away.

Raiden could tell that Rune was getting really nervous and Elena had her book out again. So he spoke. "We're here to see the commandant," Raiden told them.

He was sure the knights were rolling their eyes at them. "You kids go play somewhere else," the other one told them sounding very annoyed.

As Raiden was about to say who they were, Elena walked in front of him with a folded up piece of paper. "We're Estellise Lowell's kids and she sent us to deliver this to the commandant."

The knights were a bit startled by that and so was Raiden. He tried to not look as shocked, but he couldn't as he realized that Elena had used their mom's seal on the paper.

"Sorry young lady," one of the knights said with a completely different tone. "But Commandant Aurion isn't in the city. He's away on a mission right now. But I can see that he gets that."

Elena quickly tucked the letter inside her book and put it under her arm. "No thinks, we'll figure something else out," she said in a bored voice before turning around and walking away.

Raiden and Rune followed suit to play along. But as soon as they were out of sight from the knights, Raiden grabbed Elena's arm. "You used mom's seal?"

His sister just looked at him like she couldn't believe he was an idiot and shrugged. "I made this the night we left. I figured it'd come in handy. It'd at least prove we're who we say we are real quick," Elena explained.

He wouldn't admit it, but she did have a point. Their mother was of course well known and most knew she had two kids with Yuri Lowell. But he and his sister would not be recognized. Their mother kept them out of the political world as much as possible. Plus they were dressed like commoners. So most people wouldn't just take their word for it. Of course there were a few people, like the commandant who would recognize them.

"That's really underhanded," Rune commented.

"Well, it's not like we stole someone else's seal," Raiden told him. It was just to show they were who they said they were. No one would get hurt from it. "It's blank, right?" Raiden asked just to be sure.

Again, Elena looked at him like he was an idiot. "Of course it's blank, why would it need to say anything?"

Raiden just rolled his eyes as he looked out into the city. "So what now?" He asked out loud.

"Yeah, our only lead isn't even here in the city," Rune agreed.

 _Maybe not our only lead,_ Raiden thought. There were a couple of other people he thought about. But they wouldn't be as easy get to as the commandant even with their mom's seal. Plus he just wasn't really looking forward to seeing _that_ person. He was debating if they should try the other person he was thinking of in this city when he suddenly heard a growling noise.

Both he and Rune looked at Elena. "I'm hungry," was all she said and in expressionless voice.

Raiden did start to feel some hunger pain. It was past lunch time. "Alright, let's find somewhere to eat," Raiden said.

/~/~/

 **Skit: More Noodles?**

 **Raiden** : Oh man, all the food smells amazing. Rune what sounds good to you?

 **Rune** : Anything sounds fine at this point.

 **Elena** : I want noodles.

 **Raiden** : Come on Elena, you had noodles before we left on this trip. We're in the big city now, don't you want to try something new and different.

 **Elena** looking annoyed: I want noodles.

 **Raiden** looking to Rune: Come on help me out. Something else sounds good, right?

 **Rune** : Honestly some meat and veggies on top of those noodles sounds good to me.

 **Elena** : And an egg.

 **Rune** : Let's go find some. *He and Elena runs off*

 **Raiden** looking defeat: Seriously...Of all the food that's in this city…

/~/~/

While they could smell the food, it was actually a bit difficult finding the food stalls. Even though Elena had bragged about knowing the city she wouldn't offer any help finding the street even though she was hungry. Raiden knew that she was silent because she actually had no clue how to get there. She may have come to the city several times with their mother, but she probably only went to the castle and spent the most time there.

Raiden decided not to call Elena out on that and just followed his nose despite how tempting it was. But all their stomachs were only growling louder.

"M-maybe we should just ask for directions," Rune asked.

"Why, Elena knows where we are, right?" Raiden said as he looked back at his sister. Being hungry made it easier to snap at his sister. And he really wanted to point it out to her that she didn't know everything.

She rolled his eyes at him. "If you think we're lost, go ahead. It's fine that you doubt me," she said.

His sister knew just what to say and do that frustrated Raiden to no end. He never thought she would have been worse when she was outside the house. He had thought she would have been more reserved or even shy being out and having to deal with a bunch of strangers. But honestly she was thriving. So she didn't hold back in any of her remarks. Any other time Raiden would have been happy to see this. But it wasn't helping their situation.

"Then lead on, dear sister," Raiden told her and motioned for her to go on.

Elena just shrugged. "Fine. I'll lead you poor boys. And I could easily be swept away by some creep."

"Yeah, yeah," Raiden muttered. He wouldn't fall for that. In fact, he would feel pity for anyone who tried to attack his sister.

As they were busy walking, Sable suddenly started barking down an alleyway. Whatever it was, it was really upsetting the canine. "What's wrong Sable?" Elena asked.

"Come on, we might get in trouble if we can't keep her under control," Raiden warned his sister. He knew in a city like the capital that dogs couldn't just run around. There was no telling what the knights might do to a dog that wasn't on a leash.

"Elena, isn't there something you can do to do to quiet her down?" Rune asked.

"Something's wrong," Elena stated simply with some annoyance in her voice them.

Suddenly the dog took off down the alley and disappeared around the corner. "Sable," Elena shouted after her and proceeded to chase after the dog.

"Elena," Raiden yelled after her. He quietly swore as he ran after her. He could hear Rune calling after him. Raiden was pretty sure Rune was running after them too, but he didn't look back in case he lost track of his little sister.

Thankfully he didn't have to go far before he found his sister and her dog standing at the base of some stairs. Sable wasn't barking anymore, but she was giving out a low growl. What had stopped the two of them was seeing a woman face down in the stone street at the bottom of the stairs.

Raiden was a bit startled by the sight, but not as much as Rune. The young mage gave a small startled cry before falling backwards. "S-she's not dead, is she?" Rune stuttered.

They were answered by the hearing a stomach growling from the woman.

"I…don't think so," Raiden said a little unsure. He slowly walked toward the woman and moved to gently tapped on her shoulder. "Um, ma'am? Are you okay?" Raiden asked hesitantly.

But almost as soon as he touched her, she practically jumped up so she was sitting on her knees looking confused. Rune was really startled and Raiden even fell backwards. The woman looked back behind her at the stairs and then she hung her head in defeat. "I lived," she muttered.

 _Why does she sound disappointed in that?_ Raiden wondered.

But the woman did look strange. She was in a dark skirt that reached to her knees, a white blouse and wore a long black coat. She also had long brown hair but it didn't look like she had combed it this morning. But what worried Raiden more was all the bandages the woman wore. She was almost like a mummy. Her knees, arms, neck and even one of her eyes had bandages over them. She even had a bandage over her cheek. Her fingers were partially the only thing that wasn't covered.

"M-ma'am," Rune muttered, no doubt just as freaked about either or both the woman's appearance and what she said, "are you okay?"

"Yeah," she answered, but she still sounded disappointed. It was then followed by her stomach growling.

Raiden stood up. "Are you…maybe hungry?" He asked hesitantly.

She moaned. "I haven't eaten since yesterday. I came into the city and immediately got lost from my companion and got pickpocketed so I couldn't even pay for a room or a meal. Then I started to wondering around looking, then I tripped down these stairs."

Raiden tried to give the woman a sympathetic smile. But he was still getting over her sounding disappointed that she was alive. "Sounds like you've run into some bad luck," he said.

The woman then gripped her hair. "And on top of that I failed to die. I thought for sure the fall would snap my neck. Instead my head just hurts."

"Wait, you were trying to kill yourself?" Rune just blurted out.

"Well that wasn't the intention at the beginning," she admitted without shame. "I honestly did trip. Then as I was falling I realized that falling to my death would be preferable than starving to death."

Raiden and Rune were rendered speechless after what they heard. This woman wanted to die? Only Elena had words. Raiden thought maybe she had read some books about talking someone out of suicide. But that wasn't what came out of Elena's mouth. "A fall like that would have only broken a bone at most."

"Maybe if I angled myself differently so landed in a way that my neck would snap," the woman speculated like she was working out the math behind it.

"You'd definitely need to have a running start to create more force for the impact," Elena offered.

"Elena," Raiden said as he quickly covered her mouth once the woman was actually considering that. Raiden looked at the woman and offered, "You said you didn't want to starve. We have enough gald for another bowl of noodles if you want to join us."

The woman practically jumped to her feet and Raiden saw that he was taller than the woman. "Truly? Oh thank you young man, I shall not forget this kindness." She even grabbed his hands enthusiastically. "My name is Oanez by the way."

/~/~/

They soon found a noodle stand and Raiden had ordered four large bowls of noodles with tons of veggies and meat on them. The woman Oanez thanked them once more before eating. She didn't look much different from a hungry animal.

"So I'm guessing you're not from here, Ms. Oanez," Rune said to have some table talk. He was probably trying to forget about their death talk just a few minutes ago.

She slurped noodles into her mouth and said, "Just Oanez. Ms. makes me sound old. And you're right, I'm not from here, I'm just visiting." She stuffed her mouth full of more noodles before pointing her utensil at them. "I can see you're not from here either," she said with her mouth full. "Are you just passing through?"

"Yeah, we're from Arie Hallow," Raiden answered.

"Arie Hallow," Oanez commented as she thought. "That's the town next to some ruins, right?"

"The Dwemer Ruins," Rune answered. "But they aren't explored much anymore."

Oanez had paused before taking another bite. "Do you three know why they are called that?" She asked.

Raiden certainly hadn't a clue. He thought Elena would have an answer. But she was just silently eating. He briefly wondered if she really didn't know or if she was done socializing for today.

When none of them answered, Oanez went on. "There are some stories that a race of people used to live underground. People took to calling them the Dwemer. For hundreds of years, people above ground had no idea that there were whole cities underground. But then the surface people started digging for ruins and blastia." Oanez picked up a piece of meat from her bowl and held it up like she was about to eat it. Instead she continued to tell the story. "Being unaware that there were cities living beneath them, the surface people indirectly caused the collapse of these cities and pretty much buried many Dwemer people alive." She then dropped the piece of meat back into the bowl for emphasis.

Before any of them could comment. Oanez smiled and said, "But that is just a tall tale. There hasn't been any evidence supporting that. I guess some twisted people just like to look at something and let their minds go dark or something." Then she went back to eating.

The story turned Raiden's stomach a bit that he wasn't eager to begin eating again. "But the ruins did look like it was once a city," he told her.

She shrugged. "It easily could have just been swallowed up by the earth over hundreds of years. Things don't stay the same for that long."

"Are you some kind of architect or something?" Rune then asked. He too seemed to have lost his appetite too.

Oanez laughed a bit. "Oh no, I just like interesting stories. I guess you can say it's my hobby. As interesting as places like those might be, I have no intention of going underground. I actually have a dreadful fear of being buried alive."

"I've never come across a story like that in any book before," Elena said. It was the first thing she had said since they started eating.

"Not every tale is written down," Oanez said. "There are so many oral stories or even stories that are told through pictures. Not to mention you hear all kinds of fun stories from drunk people."

Raiden felt safe to say that he would probably never met another person quite like Oanez again. And he really hoped that was the case. He wasn't sure what he would do if there were more people like her. It was so hard to believe that she was an adult. She looked to be about the same age was Paul.

Suddenly they heard some raise voices and then Oanez smiled again. "Thanks again for the food. I totally owe you one," she said as she picked up her bowl and even scooted her chair back a bit. But she didn't get up to leave or nothing.

It wasn't long before a young man suddenly ran into the table and even fell on top of it. Everyone, but Oanez's, food bowl broke and either landed on the guy or the ground. The guy, maybe someone close to Raiden's age, seem dazed for a moment. It was clear that he hadn't realize what he had run into.

He quickly grabbed the bag next to him and quickly scrambled to his feet and ran. It wasn't long after that they heard the shouting got louder and they could make it out. "Thief," they shouted.

Raiden saw the ones shouting looked like merchants. Raiden quickly got up and ran after the thief. He didn't have any personal issue with this individual. But it didn't sit right with him to see someone doing wrong and not do anything. He hadn't been raised to do nothing.

He was sure Rune and Elena were yelling at him. However he was busy chasing the guy. He would be able to catch up soon since it looked like the he may have twisted his ankle when he fell. Yet, the thief tried to use the street to his advantage. He pushed people and then he passed a stall and pulled box of fruit behind him.

It hadn't derailed Raiden as he just jumped over and only squashed a few pieces of fruit. But he did bump into a few people as he kept running after the thief.

Finally Raiden leapt and was able to tackle the culprit to the ground. They landed on a box of fruit that went everywhere. "Get off me," the boy shouted as he struggled to get out from beneath him.

"Come on," Raiden said as he tried to restrain him. "Just give back whatever you stole."

The boy was still fighting to escape. Of course now that he had caught the guy, he wondered what he should now. He didn't have a way to keep him from running off again. He needed to probably get a knight.

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long before he could hear some coming this way. "Move," he could hear one shout. Three knights came into view. One of them looked like a normal knight, but the other two were pretty strange. Both were old with one of them was a tall skinny man with a weird mustache and the other one was very short.

"I say, what is going on here?" The taller one asked.

"Those two boys just started fighting right in front of my stall," a vender told the knights.

"I was only trying to catch him because he stole something," Raiden defended.

"That's right," someone else shouted. An older man ran up to them out of breath. "That boy was just going after a thief that took my lockbox."

"I say," the taller one said. He looked to the normal knight. "You take the thief and sort out what happened. We'll want to talk with the boy."

"Yes sir," the knight said before getting the thief. He helped Raiden hold him down so he could be put into shackles, then the knight got him to his feet. The knight, the thief, and a shop owner walked away to get it all sort out.

Raiden would have preferred just to return to Rune and Elena. But it would look really bad to run away from the knights. He had been taught to do what the knights asked. At least the ones that were actually doing their job, his dad would always add when he thought Mom wouldn't hear.

"I say, not that we don't appreciate your sense of justice, but the Empire has stick laws against vigilantism."

"O-oh," Raiden said as he scratched the back of his head. "But it's not like I was fighting the guy," Raiden tried to reason. It wasn't that he had been expecting a pat on the back. But he wasn't expecting to be scolded for helping out.

"Your little chase caused quite the commotion," the other knight went on to explain. "Look at this stall, that has caused the owner a lot of issues."

Raiden was speechless at that. While the fruit stall was still standing, some of his produce was destroyed. That would be a lot of gald lost to him.

"We'll just leave you with a slap on the wrist this time," the shorter one said. "Next time you leave this up to the knights. Report the wrong doings instead of taking the law into your own heads."

Raiden let out a sigh. It wouldn't do to go ahead and get in trouble this early in his journey. Especially in the capital where his mother can easily get word from. "Okay, sorry about that," Raiden said as he fought the urge to not roll his eyes. He did feel terrible for the damage he caused. But he was able to catch the thief much faster than the knights could have.

"I say, very good," the taller one said.

"By the way, what's your name? It's for our report," the shorter one asked as he started writing things down on a small notepad.

"Raiden Lowell," he answered.

"Raiden Lowell," the shorter one repeated as he wrote that down. But then his pencil stopped and he looked up at Raiden with wide eyes. "Lowell?" He repeated again.

"I say, as in Yuri Lowell?" The taller one asked in an almost shaky voice. It was like he didn't like saying the name.

"Y-yeah," Raiden said hesitantly. "That was my dad."

The two knights just looked at him for a moment before turning around to talk with one another. Raiden couldn't really make out a lot of what they were saying in their hushed, exaggerated tone. Raiden wondered if he could just leave. He could see Rune and Elena in the crowd that had started watching. He figured he could just leave at this point. He wasn't in trouble and as his mother would probably say, a slap on the wrist wouldn't do any good for him.

Just as he started walking toward his friend and sister, he felt someone grab his shoulder. He was forced to turn around. Before he even had a chance to realize what was going on, something snap around his wrists. When he looked at down, he saw that there were shackles on his wrists. He looked at his hands baffled as the two knights started talking.

"I say, I knew you were trouble," the taller one said. "Being a Lowell, there is probably no telling what else you've done while you were in the city."

"What?" Raiden said in disbelief. "I haven't done anything else. You can ask-" Raiden tried to say as he motioned to Rune and Elena so they could verify it. However they were now nowhere to be seen. They were gone. Did they leave him to be arrested?

"We are taking you into custody to verify what other crimes you committed," the shorter one said as the taller one grabbed Raiden's collar to drag him away, since the shorter one couldn't reach but he did grab his shackles to make sure he didn't try to escape.

Raiden was speechless as he was being dragged away by the knights. Why in the world was this happening to him?

/~/~/

Oanez had watched the whole commotion until the kid was out of sight and kept eating. _He seems like a good kid,_ she thought to herself as she downed the broth from the noodles. The thief didn't seem dangerous, so Raiden should be fine. But she honestly wasn't expecting him to just jump in like that. It wasn't like the thief stole anything from him.

But she really struggled to understand why Raiden would get involved like in was instinct. He hadn't even thought about it. He reminded her a lot of someone she knew.

"There you are," Oanez heard a familiar voice scream out her as she felt someone hit her in the back of the head. Oanez almost dropped the bowl, but she did curl up from the pain. "I have been looking all over this accursed city looking for you and here you are eating."

Oanez slowly straightened up and gave the woman a reassuring smile. The woman was slightly taller than Oanez with red hair in a fancy bun and was wearing purple robes. "Oh Yin, what a coincidence. You should try the noodle bowls, they're really good."

"Don't Yin me," the woman shouted at Oanez. Her brow was frowned so much, she was liable to get wrinkles earlier. And she was younger than Oanez. "You just had to take in the sights, didn't you? Then you got lost. Did you forget we're here for a reason? I was starting to really hope I'd find you dead in the ditch at this point."

Oanez got up to give the noddle cart man his bowl back. He was too busy worrying about the destroyed table to really notice her. "Of course I haven't forgotten why we're here," Oanez told her companion. "But it actually wasn't a lost. During my time being lost, I did find out we may want to avoid going to the castle for a little bit. Someone else is trying to force an audience with the Empress."

Yin went from scolding to serious. "Should we retreat?" She asked. "Even if all works out, wouldn't us appearing be a little suspicious to them?"

"No. Appearing to them while they're on high alert might be best for us," Oanez speculated.

"Very well, I'll have your back on whatever you decide," Yin reassured.

The two women didn't much care for the other's company. But there was a small line of respect they had. Oanez knew Yin was nearly undefeated in combat. And Yin knew not to question any of Oanez's plans or strategies.

"Good," Oanez said. Then she went on to add, "Also you should know I don't intend of die in a ditch. That doesn't even make my top ten list of ways to die."

That earned another hit on the head from Yin.


	6. Chapter 6

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 6: Attack on the Empire

 _Mom, I am so sorry,_ Raiden thought grimly as he sat in a prison cell. He knew he was a trouble maker and that he caused his mom so much worry. But he never thought he would end up in jail. He didn't want his mother to have that image of him. There was no telling how sad that would make her.

Raiden was aware that his father had been had been in prison plenty of times. He may have wanted to be like his father, but not like this. This was the one thing he didn't want from him.

He was in a stone cell with a little bit of natural light from a high small window. There looked to be an uncomfortable cot and a toilet in either corner. Raiden remained on the cold stone floor because he didn't want to look like he was making himself at home.

There were some knights talking in the distance, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. Hopefully they weren't talking about him. Raiden was truly praying his mother would never find out about this.

Not much time past before a knight came up to the ceil. "Get up," he ordered.

Raiden complied and the knight opened the door and slapped the shackles back on his wrists. Raiden winced bit at the pain, but he didn't want to show that to the knight. "Where are you taking me?" Raiden asked.

"Keep quiet," the knight ordered as he pushed Raiden out of the ceil. "You're lucky you're the son of one of the council. Otherwise you'd stay in the ceil longer before being judged."

 _Judged?_ Raiden started to feel panic. He had to keep himself calm though. _Just listen to the knights, you did nothing wrong,"_ he reassured himself. This was all just a misunderstanding, surely whoever was going to judge him will see that.

The knight led Raiden out of the prison and they were going through the rest of the castle (which never made sense to Raiden that the castle was built over the prison). They didn't go far before they before they were in front of an office just right outside the entrance of the prison. They must not want prisoners to go through the rest of the castle.

The knight opened the large door for Raiden and pretty much just pushed him through it. "I've brought him like you ordered," the knight reported.

The room looked like a waiting room with nice looking furniture and large window in the back with a familiar figure standing by it. When the man at the window turned to look, he frowned at the knight. "Take the shackles off, he's a kid," he ordered.

"Yes sir," the knight complied, but Raiden could tell he wasn't thrilled with the idea.

The knight took the shackles off and exited the room closing the door behind him. Raiden was left in the room with the man that started walking toward him.

"You've really grown Raiden. You could pass for your father," the man said with a smile.

Raiden was embarrassed to admit that it took him a moment to realize who he was. "Flynn," Raiden said in disbelief. It had been about three years since he last saw him. Flynn. He looked so much older now. He and his father were the same age. Raiden wondered if his own father would have looked this old or was this just how people who served the Empire looked?

Flynn's blonde hair was still as messy as Raiden had always known it to be. He wasn't wearing any armor, but just a causal doublet with his sword on his belt. Raiden wondered if he had been training some knights before now.

The older knight sat on one of the couches and started pouring a cup of tea. "Make yourself comfortable. Would you like a cup?" Flynn asked.

Raiden hadn't realized that he had tensed up. "Oh, no thank you," Raiden quickly said as he took a seat across from Flynn. Even though Flynn was best friends with Raiden's father, it had been so long since he had seen Flynn in a causal manner. Instead of seeing him as a family friend like Uncle Karol, Raiden saw Flynn for what he was; the Commander of Royal Knights.

"How's your mother and sister?" Flynn asked before he took a sip.

"They're fine," Raiden said plainly.

"I guess I should have guessed," Flynn said with a small chuckle at the end. "If it was a serious matter, I'm sure Estellise wouldn't have sent her children to deliver an important message."

Raiden gave Flynn a confused look and the knight went on. "I got word that Lady Estellise had sent word to Commandant Aurion through her children. Naturally I was worried it was something serious."

"Y-yeah," was all Raiden could say. He supposed he should have guessed that Flynn would find out about Elena having a fake letter from their mother.

"So do you want to tell me what brings you here?" Flynn went on to ask. "School isn't out yet, and I can't imagine that your mother would let you leave Arie Hallow unless it was something serious."

Flynn gave off the feeling that he could see through a kid's lie. Raiden wasn't sure what he should say so that Flynn wouldn't ask any more questions. He knew the knight wouldn't help in his quest. It also didn't help that the last time Raiden had interacted with Flynn, he had yelled "You're not my dad" at him when he was just trying to help. Yuri's death had still been a fresh wound and Raiden had done something very dangerous that had caused his mother to cry for hours. Raiden could barely remember what he had even done. But he remembered getting angry at Flynn for scolding him like a parent would. Raiden knew better now. Yet back then he felt Flynn was trying to replace his dad. After that, Flynn didn't visit them as often and Estelle only saw Flynn when she visited the capital. Raiden was so embarrassed for that incident that he would avoid seeing Flynn when he did visit.

That's why Raiden didn't want to bother Flynn. He felt like he didn't deserve to ask something from him. He couldn't bring himself to ask for any kind of favor. Not that he thought Flynn would help him in this matter. Flynn would just send them home with an armed escort.

Flynn put his cup down. "Raiden," Flynn said with his head down. "I know I failed miserably at being there for you."

"N-no," Raiden quickly interrupted. "I mean, you're the commander of Royal Guard. It's not like any of us can ask you to stop protecting the Empress just to come check on us."

"I appreciate that you think that," Flynn said with a weak smile. "But Yuri was my friend, and you all meant the world to him. It's the least I could do for him to make sure you all stay safe. I know he'd do the same if it were reverse."

"Well we're fine," Raiden reassured him without looking at him. "Mom's busy with all the political stuff. But we're fine. Also Mom wasn't kidding when she said you really do hold on to a lot of guilt." Raiden knew from what his mother said that Flynn blamed himself for the death of Emperor Ioder. He had still been Commandant at the time and had been away on a mission when the Emperor was assassinated. Flynn's last act as Commandant was forming the Royal Guard with the sole purpose of only have obedience to the crown and laying their lives for the ruler. Then he stepped down so he could run the Royal Guard. He and some elite guard would stay with the young Empress and James Aurion would be in charge of the rest of the knights to carry out missions outside the city as Commandant.

A weak laugh escaped Flynn. "Some things never change, do they," he muttered to himself. Then he seemed to remember something.

"That reminds me," Flynn said as he got up to walk to a nearby table. He picked up a small bag and two swords and handed them to Raiden. He couldn't believe that he had missed that when he first walked in. "Here's your stuff the knights confiscated from you. I didn't have anything to do with you being thrown in prison. But there are still a few knights that still shudder at all the trouble Yuri caused. Since you didn't do anything wrong, we can keep this incident between us. No need to worry your mother." Flynn told him in a lighter mood.

Raiden felt a small smile form. It felt like old times. Before his dad was gone. "Thanks Flynn," Raiden told him. Even though he had been innocent, Raiden didn't want to give his mother the image of her son in prison.

Flynn sat back down. "Now, do you care to tell what brings you to Aurnion?" He asked again.

Raiden hung his head. He supposed he didn't have a choice. He couldn't learn any more without someone from the knights. "I..." Raiden started to say. He wondered if Flynn did know more about Yuri's death or if he would just be scratching at old wounds. Flynn had been there when his friend died and had been the one to tell Estelle that Yuri was dead. Raiden tightened his grip on his father's swords that were in his lap. "I want to know what happened to my dad," Raiden said honestly. "You were with him, right?" Flynn had never told Raiden what happened. He just told them Yuri was dead and brought his sword and blastia back. Flynn may have been saving the conversation for when he was older, but then Raiden said "that" to him.

Flynn had a pained look in his eyes. Raiden thought it would be easier to start with a question like that. But he could tell there was a lot of guilt. "I suppose your old enough," Flynn said with a tired breath. "I didn't see how it happened. But I do feel like it's my fault."

Raiden stayed seated and braced himself.

"Four years ago, when Halure was attacked, I arrived just as the civilians were escaping," Flynn began. "I did everything I could to restore order to the knights, but there was so much chaos that it was too late to fight back. I gave the order to pull out and we did. I found Yuri as we were retreating. We were almost to Ehmead Hill when the surviving knights and other fighters rested when we confirmed we weren't being pursued. Yuri volunteered to be a look out while we all rested."

 _So it didn't happen in Halure,_ Raiden thought. He always pictured it happening during the attack. He wasn't sure why, but Raiden was glad that his dad didn't die in their hometown.

"But when it came time to keep going, Yuri was nowhere to be found. So I went looking for him. I found him not far from where we were. I hadn't been that far away when it happened." Flynn stopped and his eyes closed. He wasn't fighting back tears, but Raiden could tell how painful this story was to Flynn. Raiden never thought that the knight would blame himself for Yuri's death.

"I…I heard that it was someone posing as a knight…and that-" Raiden was choosing his words carefully.

But Flynn stopped him. "I don't know where you heard that, but there's no way to know for sure. I didn't see anyone commit the act or see anyone acting strange. So whether that's true or not, I can't say."

"I see," Raiden said with a bit of disappointment.

"Now answer me this," Flynn suddenly said. "What do you intend to do with this information?"

Raiden was silent because he wasn't sure what Flynn wanted him to answer or even what his answer really was.

When he didn't answer, Flynn sighed. "Okay, let me try this. What do you intend to do when you find the man that murdered your father?"

Raiden's head shot up at that. How could Flynn have figured that out? But it did dawn on Raiden that he still didn't have an answer for that. His goal was to find then guy. And then…he didn't know. He hadn't thought about it once.

"Raiden," Flynn said as he walked over to him and put his hand on his shoulder. "You may not think this, but I do care about you and your family. Even if you don't think about yourself, remember that if anything happened to you, it would destroy your mother."

Raiden though back to his mother's reaction when Rune and he just snuck out to the ruins. How was she feeling with both of her children going after the person that killed Yuri Lowell? Has he made her cry more?

"I guess you're going to send me home, huh," Raiden said.

"If you're really Yuri's kid, then you're not just going to do what I say," Flynn said with a sigh. "All I can do is strongly advise you to go home."

As Raiden began to wonder if he actually got Flynn's blessing on this, the knight went on. "I know what it's like to lose your father. Please believe that me when I say revenge doesn't help." Flynn pointed to his chest. "It still hurts thinking about it. There is still a little bit of me that resents my own father and the ones at fault for his death. And that is with revenge already exacted."

Raiden knew that Flynn lost his parents at a young age. But it surprised Raiden to hear the rest. Flynn actually got the guy that killed his father?

As Raiden stewed over what he was just told, there came a knock at the door. Flynn straightened up before saying, "Come in."

The door opened and it was the two knights that had dragged Raiden to prison. But this time they had Elena and Rune with them. The mage looked horrified to have been escorted in by knights. Elena on the other looked like she could care less the way her arms were folded. The two knights stood at attention. But the taller one was holding a kerchief to a blooding nose. "Sir Scifo, we've brought these two like you asked," the shorter one informed Flynn.

"What happened to you?" Flynn asked.

"I say," the taller one said through his kerchief, "we were just telling them they needed to come with us and this girl attacked me."

Elena's expression didn't change. She just shrugged and said nonchalantly, "He touched me."

The two knights quickly went on the defensive. "I say, I did not," the tall one said.

"That is not what happened," the shorter one defended.

Raiden's sister still didn't change her expression or change what she said. But Raiden knew what must have really happened. "Elena isn't a fan of physical contact," Raiden briefly explained.

Thankfully that was the end of it and Flynn motioned for the knights to leave. They didn't seem to like they wanted to leave Flynn alone with them. Raiden wondered if they really thought the three of them would be dangerous to Flynn. Raiden wouldn't want to take Flynn on in a fight.

Flynn smiled at them. "All of you have grown so much. It's so hard to believe," he said.

The three of them didn't say anything and that left them in an awkward silence. Raiden was still reeling from the question Flynn had asked him. Rune looked incredibly intimidated from being in the knight's presences. Elena just looked bored.

Flynn let out a sigh. "So this is the part where I tell the three of you to go home back to your worried mothers," he said.

"And you're really going to spend resources to have knights escort a few kids home?" Elena asked. "That seems like a real waste given the Empire's situation."

" _Elena,"_ Rune pretty much hissed in horror.

But that actually made Flynn laugh. He gave a smile when he said, "Well Ms. Lowell, I see you've really become your father's daughter."

"Yeah I get that a lot," Elena commented. "So can we go?"

"I-I'm really sorry," Rune quickly said with a quick bow. Raiden wasn't sure what the young mage was apologizing for.

"Listen," Flynn said as he sat back down. "It's admirable that you three want to find justice. But you are far too young to do something so dangerous. Plus, I'm sure Yuri would tell you not worry about him. You three should be living your lives."

That was what their mom and Paul said too. Raiden knew that too. His dad always just wanted them to live their lives to the fullest and with no regret. Yuri Lowell was the type who would tell them they are wasting their time getting justice for him.

 _I'm sorry Dad,_ Raiden thought, _but I'll have tons of regret if I don't find the guy that took you away from us._

Raiden was just about to say something similar to Flynn when Elena spoke up. "I'm still mad at Dad for leaving," she said. "Since I can't tell him anymore, the least I can do is let my frustration on the reason why my dad never came home again."

"Elena," Raiden muttered. This was the first-time Elena had said why she wanted to come along. He never thought it was out of anger.

Flynn opened his mouth to say something, but the doors burst open. "Sir Scifo," a knight exclaimed. "There are intruders. They say they're after the Empress."

Raiden felt his heart stop when he saw the look on Flynn's face. It was a mixture of anger and fear. The old knight jumped to his feet and grabbed his sword. Flynn ran to the door and turned back at them. "You three stay here, board the door," he told them and slammed to door behind him.

Raiden quickly ran up to the door to see if he could hear anything. But all he could hear was people running and shouting in the halls. Why would anyone want to go after the Empress? She was just a child.

Raiden started to open the door, but he was stopped by someone grabbing his arm. "What are you doing?" Rune shouted at him as he was holding him back. "Didn't you hear what the knight said? The castle is being invaded."

"I am not about to just sit here and be scared," Raiden argued.

For a brief moment, Rune looked about as scary as Rita. "You idiot," Rune snapped. "We're not dealing with monsters. These are people. People who'll hurt us if we cross them." At the last sentence, Rune turned back into himself.

Raiden hadn't even considered that. If it were monsters, it would be no question. But these were people. He never crossed a real sword with another real sword. He didn't want to hurt anyone.

He let his arm fall and Rune breathed a sigh of relief.

However, it was short lived. At that moment, they could hear someone give out a cry just outside the door. Raiden didn't hesitate this time. He opened the door and saw a knight on the ground injured. And there was a man dressed as some kind of mercenary standing over him. He was about to stab his sword through the knight.

Raiden didn't hesitate to release an Azure Edge at the man. It fazed him enough so that Raiden could charge the man and tackle him into a nearby pillar. The force was enough to knock the attacker out.

He looked back at the knight and saw that the wound was bad. "He needs healing," Raiden shouted to his sister. At first, Elena acted like she didn't even hear him. "Elena," Raiden said as repeat to what he said.

"Fine," she said as she walked over to the knight. She knelt down, but was sure to keep as much distance as she could for the spell to work. Unlike their mother, her first instinct wasn't to heal other people. Raiden believed that she wouldn't have that hesitation if it came to her family.

The knight's wounds closed and he sat up. "Thanks," he muttered as he slowly got to his feet.

"What in the world is going on here?" Raiden quickly asked.

"Some kind of thugs snuck into the castle," the knight explained. "I'm not sure what they could be after."

"Why do you look like you are wanting to ask us to do something?" Elena asked bluntly.

The knight got flustered and tried to recompose. "Look I hate to even ask this from children, but with your healing artes you would be more beneficial for you to be near the Empress. Not that I'm trying to tell you to do anything dangerous."

Raiden wanted to help out. It was better than just waiting in a room. But he couldn't just bring Elena and Rune into something dangerous.

"Fine," Elena muttered as she started walking in the direction to where the knight asked them to.

"Elena," Raiden called out to his sister. He quickly looked back at the knight and the attacker that was passed out.

"Don't worry about him, I'll take care of him," the knight said.

Raiden then nodded and quickly caught up with his sister. No doubt that she would just keep going regardless if he was with her. She must have hated the thought of waiting more than Raiden.

Just then he felt someone grab his arm to get his attention rather than stop him. "Raiden, what do think you're doing?" Rune asked.

"The least we can do is help Flynn out," Raiden told him.

"But these people look dangerous," Rune said with worried eyes.

"So are some of the monsters we fought on the way here."

"They're _people_ ," Rune tried to get Raiden to understand. He stopped and so did Raiden and surprisingly Elena too. The mage was shaking as he forced himself to say, "I…I don't think I can cast a spell on another person and hurt them, even in self-defense."

It then clicked with Raiden. This wouldn't be like fighting monsters. Yeah, he wasn't afraid to throw a punch. But to use his swords on a person who was trying to hurt him or anyone else suddenly made his swords feel heavier. He may have knocked out the other guy, but that was pure luck and the element of surprise that it worked well enough that Raiden didn't have to swing his sword at them. _Idiot, why didn't you think this through,_ Raiden thought bitterly.

"We're just going to heal people," Elena pointed out plainly. "We're not fighting and you two would just be keeping me safe while I use my healing artes, right?"

"You're going to go even without us," Rune said with a sigh.

"Yep," she answered. "I want to make sure Flynn's okay. He is getting on in years."

Raiden understood. "Alright, we're just going to help any wounded," Raiden said.

Rune closed his eyes and groaned. "I can't say no to that."

"Then come then," Elena said sounding annoyed.

/~/~/

It didn't take them long to find Flynn by following the noise. They were in the main hall and Flynn and his knights seemed like they were having no problem fighting back the thugs.

The Commander of the Royal Knights noticed them as soon as they came in. But so did some of the thugs. One thug broke off from the rest and ran toward them. Maybe he thought he could use them as hostages or something.

Raiden didn't hesitate to get in front of Rune and Elena and pull out his swords. He didn't want to, but if it was either that or let the man hurt Elena and Rune. The choice was simple. But that didn't stop cold sweat from forming on his brow.

Just as Raiden was about to block, Flynn jumped in front of him and parried the blade with his shield. He then quickly cut the attacker down and turned his attention to them. "What in the world are you all doing here?" Flynn snapped in a scolding tone.

"We just wanted to help," Raiden told him.

Elena then walked over to Flynn and began casting a healing spell. The knight did have a nasty cut on his arm. With that Flynn must have understood their intentions. He gave a sigh and quickly said, "Stay behind the knights. _Do not_ go past the knights. This will be over shortly."

Raiden nodded and grabbed his sister's arm to pull her with him. Rune pretty much stayed on his heels. There were a few knights that had a few minor injuries. They may have taken any that were seriously wounded to the court healers.

Elena went to work on healing some knights without any prompting. Rune stayed right next to her looking very squeamish with all the blood and not knowing what to do to help. Raiden stood in front of his sister at all times with one sword out. He didn't wish for any kind of confrontation, but he hoped that seeing him with a sword would make the intruders think twice about attack the healer.

"Leave some alive," Flynn shouted once the numbers were dwindling. A few knights already had a few of the rogues disarmed and had surrender.

When all the enemy was either dead or captured, Flynn walked over to one the rogues. "Why did you attack the castle?" Flynn asked.

The intruder that Flynn address spat on the ground. "That little girl pretending to be the Empress is nothing but blasphemy incarnate," he answered.

"So your goal was the Empress," Flynn clarified. "Who sent you? Who are your allegiance?"

But the intruder ignored Flynn and seemed to either be addressing his comrades or the even the knights. "The Empress is the deceiver," he shouted. "She is our downfall."

 _The Empress is a child,_ Raiden thought. Sure a child might not make the best ruler. But to cause the downfall of the country? It really seemed like they were just overreacting.

Just then one of them broke loose of their bindings and tore something off their chest, Raiden couldn't tell. The knights next to him tried to restrain him, however what the intruder did almost made Raiden drop his sword.

The intruder stuck at the knight and caused them to hit the wall that was a few feet away. Raiden blinked when he saw the knight not moving. What in the world kind of arte was that and how was it so strong? He had never seen such power from an arte since they weren't as strong without blastia.

And more importantly how could they stop it?

A couple other knights tried to restrain the man, but the same thing happened to them. Now Raiden had a better view and could see that the man's arm had changed. It had grown bigger and longer than normal that hit had ripped itself out of the sleeve. But it looked grotesque. The veins were prominent and the skin looked greenish. It also seemed to be growing toward the man's head because the same thing was slowly growing on the side of his face. One of his eyes were starting to turn red.

The man no longer sounded human as he lunged for one of the knights and pounded the knight into the ground. It was a horrifying sighting that Raiden was glad that this man/monster had punched the helpless knight further into the ground that it obstructed his view. He did it with such little emotions that really must had turned into some kind of monster.

Rune had given a startled cry from the sight. And that seemed to catch the monster man's attention. And he charged toward them. He was now foaming at the mouth like he was some rapid dog.

Raiden could hear Flynn yelling at them to run, but Raiden's legs felt like iron. He couldn't run. So his only option was fight. He had to protect his sister and friend. He sent out an Azure Edge so it could phase him. Maybe then he could use the back of his swords to subdue this foe.

To his dismay, the monster man barely flinched at it and was now in arm's length of Raiden. Flynn was still shouting. Raiden couldn't really tell who he directed it toward. He had to protect Elena and Rune. That was the only thing that went through his mind.

Raiden planted his feet and was about to fight back when he suddenly felt someone kick him in the back on the knee. He started falling backwards toward the ground which ended up being a good thing because the monster man's arm was right where Raiden's head had been.

Next thing he heard was his sister shouting " _IMPACT!"_ and followed by the monster man's painful grunt. Raiden quickly sat up to see his sister had punched the monster in his solar plexus and he was now curled up in pain. The target and the arte, Elena definitely broke some of the monster's ribs.

As Raiden jumped back to his feet to get his sister away from such a dangerous creature, Elena turned around with a board look. "It wasn't even that tough," she said with the roll of her eyes. Some of the knights were running over to secure the monster man.

Raiden was fighting back the groan. Even in a dangerous situation, his sister was still as cocky as ever.

"Look out," Rune shouted.

Raiden didn't notice until it was too late. The monster man had raised its arm and struck Elena in the head and sent her toward the wall just like it did those knights. Elena hit the wall and fell to the ground. She wasn't getting up or saying anything snarky.

"Ellie!" Raiden shouted and ran over to her form. She was so still. Raiden's heart would have stopped if he wasn't running so hard. He heard people shouting. But Raiden didn't even care if the monster was chasing him. He had to get to Elena.

He slid next to her and gently went to touch her face. He moved her hair out of the way and lost his breath with what he saw. His eyes swelled with tears and he could no longer see because of his tears and all the blood coming out of his little sister. He found her hand and gripped it tight. "Ellie," he muttered in a shaky voice that was fighting back sobs. He gently touched the spot where blood was coming out from her head like he was trying to stop the bleeding. But he felt so much liquid between his fingers. "You're…you will be fine," Raiden forced out between his whimpering.

 _She'll be fine,_ he was telling himself. But she had never gotten hurt like this. But she had to be okay. She had to. _Please, please be okay,_ Raiden begged.

"Get the healer, now," Raiden could hear Flynn shout.


	7. Chapter 7

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 7: New Powers

The knights had managed to restrain the monster man after it had attacked Elena. But that was mainly due to it dying shortly after. Some speculated that whatever caused him to transform resulted in his death. The knights had a lot of questions and the intruders had either gotten away or died during the confusion the monster man caused. So there was no one left the knights could question. Even the one that Raiden had knocked out had gotten away.

Raiden and Rune could care less about any of that for now. Raiden sat outside of the infirmary with Rune. Both of them were silent as they waited to hear news on Elena. Raiden hugged his knees close to his chest with his head down.

It was all his fault for what happened to Elena. He was the big brother. He should have told her to stay home where she would have been safe. He should have told her to stay in that room when the castle was attacked. He should have protected her. _You knew you were going into something dangerous. And you let her come along anyway._

"Any word about Elena?" Flynn's voice suddenly asked.

Raiden lifted his head to see the knight. The knight looked worried and Raiden just couldn't bring himself to say it. He might start crying again. _I'm a worthless older brother if all I can do is cry for Elena._

Thankfully Rune told the knight. "The healer came out a little bit ago. They patched her up as best they could, so we just need to wait."

"I see," Flynn said. "I'll go send word to your mother. Maybe with her healing artes-"

He didn't finish it because a new voice said, "I'm afraid it might be too late for that." It was the healer that had treated Elena. "Young man, I think you should say your good-bye," the healer said.

Raiden jumped up, "But," Raiden started to say. _That can't be. Elena should be-_

"I'm afraid we just don't have the artes or technology to treat a head injury like this. I'm so sorry. I'm just wanting to be honest with you, young man. It's a miracle she's even still alive. But she won't be for much longer."

"Is there really nothing else we can do?" Flynn asked. "If we could keep her alive for a few days, Lady Estellise could make a difference."

"Raiden, shouldn't Elena's healing powers-" Rune started to whisper urgently but he didn't finish.

Again the doctor interrupted. "You can try that Sir Scifo. But I can make no promises that she'll live until the end of the day or either if Lady Estellise's powers could treat a brain injury like this one. It's only a matter of time before-"

Suddenly the door opened up and that interrupted the doctor. Out walked Elena taking off the many bloodied bandages from her head. She spotted Raiden first. "So are we good to leave now?" She asked in her usual manner.

"Thanks goodness," Raiden cried out as he quickly wrapped his arms around his sister. "I was worried you couldn't recover from that."

Elena didn't move or return his huge. She was stiff and after about three seconds, she said, "Okay, get off." He did just that, but still smiled at her.

"Elena," Rune cried out, though he was sure to keep his distance. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, can we go now?" Elena asked.

But before Raiden could, he noticed the horrified look of Flynn and the healer. "H-how…" Flynn only managed to get out one word.

"Y-young lady," the healer said, "Y…you just sustained a serious head injury. You shouldn't even be walking."

Elena just shrugged. "Well I'm fine. Just a little hungry is all."

"Miss, I insist that you stay for observation this minute," the healer then reached for Elena's arm. "You must lay down this instant before you collapse or worse."

Elena tried to get out of the healers reach, but when it seemed evident he would touch her, she swung her fists to his face and cried, "Don't touch me." She punched the healer in the nose and Raiden quickly put his arm in front of her so she wouldn't go after him and to prevent anyone else from touching her. She was shaking.

The healer was holding a bloody nose. "Why you little-" he started to say.

But Flynn cut him off. "Sir, why don't you go check on the Empress."

"Fine, see if I care what happens to this girl," the healer grumbled as he started to walk away.

When the healer was gone, Flynn turned back to them and asked Elena in a very serious tone, "Elena, be honest with me, are you okay?"

"I said I'm fine. So I'm fine," she snapped. She looked up at Raiden. "I want to get out of here and get some more noodles. Can we go now?"

"Yeah, I'll get you the biggest bowl," Raiden told her. He was wondering if Flynn would question them more about Elena's power. Their parents and Rita were the only ones that Raiden knew about that understood that Elena's power of the Child of the Full Moon was much greater than their mother's. Not only could she use healing artes like their mother, but her body just naturally healed on its own after any kind of injury.

Raiden wasn't sure if Flynn knew. But he did know he didn't want to be the one to tell him.

So he gave a small bow to the knight. "Thanks for everything Flynn. And we're sorry if we got in the way," Raiden said. Rune quickly followed.

"Are you all heading home now?" Flynn asked.

Raiden just nodded before motioning his sister and friend follow him.

It wasn't until they were away that Rune asked, "We're not going home, are we?"

"We just began," Raiden said. "We can't quit after we just started."

Rune hung his head down. "But are you not freaked out about what happened? I mean, we didn't hardly do any good. Elena-"

"And I'm fine," Elena snapped. "Besides those guys were after the Empress, not us."

"I know," Raiden said to his friend. "It was pretty scary. So I promise that we'll be more careful. But like Elena said, we were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. What are the chances that something like that will happen again?"

His friend didn't look too convinced. He gave a tired sigh, but he didn't say anything.

Raiden looked at his sister. She looked like she always did. She was just so hard to read. He would have to do a better job in protecting her. He needed to step up as a big brother.

/~/~/

 _Raiden didn't remember why he couldn't sleep that night when his parents found out that Elena was getting bullied and attacked at school. He was sure it was guilt. He may have only been eleven at the time, but he was still Elena's big brother. Dad had told him to look out for her when she started school._

 _Mom and Dad weren't blaming him for what happened. He was still a kid and had been as clueless as them about what was really happening to Elena. But he knew it was his fault. He knew Elena was being picked on (though he had no idea they were physically hurting her) and he had just told her to stand up for herself and get over it._

 _And now she had come home missing some fingers and blood all over her shirt._

 _Raiden sat by the door of his room to hear what his parents were talking about. He had spent the last few hours listening to his sister's uncontrollable cries. It had been about an hour since he last heard her cry._

 _He heard Elena's room open up followed by soft footsteps. "She's finally asleep with all her fingers back," he heard his dad say._

 _"Oh Yuri, what are we going to do?" His mom asked._

 _"She sure as hell isn't going back to that school," his dad said angrily. "I have half a mind to beat all those little bastards and that teacher of hers. If she had just done her damn job she would have known what those monsters were doing to her." Raiden knew is father wasn't directing his anger on any of them, but it did make Raiden jump a bit._

 _"Yuri…" his mother started to say. "We were also in the dark."_

 _"At least we knew she was being bullied. That idiot of a teacher of hers just thought Ellie was being too sensitive. She had no idea those kids were hurting her."_

 _"I'm going to talk with the teacher and those kids' parents," his mother said. "I'm going to make them apologize to Elena."_

 _"They cut off three of her fingers, Estelle," Yuri snapped as he fought to keep from raising his voice. "There's no telling what else they did to her."_

 _"Well what do you want to do? They're children too," Estelle said trying to stay calm._

 _Then Raiden jumped when he heard something hit the wall. In the morning, Raiden would see busted knuckles on his father. "Damn it," he heard his father mutter. The anger was still there, but it was almost getting overshadowed by despair. "She begged me not to go school this morning. I just told her to tough it out and show them she wasn't someone to be picked on. How did I not see this?"_

 _"She was really good at hiding it," Estelle said. "I'm also at fault. She refused to wear nice clothes to school, always wore long sleeves and a jacket in summer. Her clothes were always dirty or they would go missing. She's nine and she hid in her room when she got home. I'm her mother, how did I not know…" his mother didn't finish because she was sobbing. Raiden heard his father walk, probably to comfort her._

 _Raiden hugged his knees and started to silently choke back some tears as he listened to his mother crying._ I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, _Raiden thought. He should have protected his sister. She was in so much pain and so were their parents._

 _When Estelle's cries grew softer, Yuri said, "You can see if those little monsters will apologize, but she is not going back to school."_

 _"Rita said we should keep what happened to Elena a secret as best we can," Estelle choked out. "She's sure that the research institute would like to study Elena's formula. Elena's powers are completely different, but her formula seems similar to mine."_

 _"Like hell mages are coming anywhere near her," Yuri said bitterly._

 _Elena never went to school again. Kids had found out that Elena's wounds practically healed on their own and they were curious to see it happen. They're abuse just kept escalating until they finally disfigured her. If anyone asked, Mom would say she was able to heal Elena when she came home and that's what the children were referring to._

 _Because of that abuse, Elena didn't feel safe outside and didn't like to make physical contact. When their dad died, Elena lost part of her piece of mind. She never said it, but Raiden knew that she felt her safest when their father was around._

/~/~/

Some knights escorted them out of the castle just in case there were still some of the rouges out and about. Raiden was also sure that the knights did this so they wouldn't stumble into any rooms that had the rouges dead bodies. As soon as they were out, Sable ran up to Elena wagging her tail. Elena knelt down to hug her companion. Raiden realized that the two of them had been inseparable and that this was probably the longest Elena and Sable had been apart.

"You kids don't cause any more problems now," the knight said.

"O-of course sir," Rune stuttered horribly. Raiden and Elena stayed quite as they all walked back to the city.

However, it wasn't long before another knight ran up to them. "Good, you didn't go far," the knight said. He handed Raiden an envelope. "Sir Scifo wanted me to give this to you."

They nodded and Raiden began opening it. It was a letter with three ship tickets.

"Tickets for a ship at Port Aurnion?" Rune said as he looked at them.

" _I knew you were lying about going home_ ," Raiden read from the letter. " _Take a ship to Heilord, I've also attached a letter for you to use so you can cross into the guild's territory. Be sure to check in with Karol when you reach Dahngrest. If you learn anything else about what happened to Yuri, please let me know. From Flynn."_

"We actually got Flynn's blessing for this?" Rune said in disbelief.

 _"P.s. I will be letting your mothers know you were here,"_ Elena finished as she looked over at the letter.

"Not fully, it seems," Raiden said. He looked back at the castle. Flynn must have wanted to know what happened to his friend as much as them. _Thanks Flynn._

/~/~/

Flynn returned to his office at the castle and with the door closed, he gave a tired sigh. It was hard to believe so much had happened in just one day. He sat down at his desk, it would probably be the only time he would get some down time. He would need to increase security after this last attack. He would need to reassure the noble families that everything was safe. Keep the strange transformation that happen to one of those men a secret from the public since he didn't want people thinking anyone could just turn into, whatever that was. He'd also need to reassure himself that the Empress was in good hands. To think these men were after the Empress.

There was so much to do. But his mind was on Yuri. Was it really right of him to allow those kids to continue on? He probably should have made sure they went home. He wasn't sure why, but he felt like he really should let them find what they needed.

"My, things are never dull with you, are they?" A familiar voice said with a little amusement.

It startled Flynn a little as he was sure he had been alone in the room. But he quickly stayed professional. He just glanced at his visitor to acknowledge them. "So how long have you watched?" Flynn asked. "Did you know there was going to be an attack?"

His visitor looked like a street kid in his early teens with a purple beanie on top of his head. Flynn knew he was neither of those things. The kid had a mischievous smile. "I just got here a little while ago. So even if I did feel like warning you about the attack, it would have been too late to do anything. Besides, it's not like anyone important died."

Flynn just gave a sigh as he walked over to sit in a chair. "So are you still going by Mayvin these days?" Flynn asked. This wasn't the first time Mayvin had visited him. Flynn was the only one he had appeared to after they had fought Nightwood. Raven hadn't even been able to hear so much of a rumor about Mayvin or Jacob after he left the guilds. Mayvin only allowed people to know about him. And for some reason, Flynn was one of those people.

"Mayvin's my name till I die," the visitor said with a smile. Mayvin hadn't changed a single bit since they fought Nightwood. If Flynn had even a single doubt about elves or anything Mayvin had told him about his kind, it would have been erased watching Mayvin not age these twenty years.

"So what are you here to tell me this time?" Flynn asked.

Mayvin's smile dropped. "Just an update," he said sounding very serious. "You-Know-Who is on the move. And he's getting harder to track, which has me worried."

"You know it's been about five years since you last told me anything about him," Flynn said. "I find it hard that someone like you has trouble finding a single human."

"Trust me, I'm embarrassed enough about it," Mayvin said bitterly. "But he has Lilith Nightwood's gem. With that, it wouldn't make him much different from an elf."

"Understand that I don't want that much power in the hands of someone," Flynn began. "But Gillion has had the stone for about twenty years, and there hasn't been so much as a word from him." It was maybe about sixteen years ago when Mayvin came to Flynn and told him what he stumbled upon the former White Sentinel guild member doing something to Nightwood's corps. Why he appeared to Flynn and no one else was a question that Mayvin has never answered.

"Well my suspicions have been confirmed. Last month He managed to kill one of the few remaining ancient elves and steal their mana. At the very least, he's made this personal to me."

Flynn's stomach dropped. It had been so hard to defeat Nightwood, one of the ancient elves. And for another human to single handily do it… It just wasn't sitting well with Flynn.

"So what do you want me to do?" Flynn asked.

"Find more information about those people that took Zaphias from you. I've finally managed to confirm he's somehow how connected to them. And that human that turned into a monster, I think Gillion is responsible for that as well."

"Are you saying he's the one behind those renegades?" Flynn asked.

Mayvin just shrugged. "Doubtful. He could be using them. At the very least he's hiding there."

"That still doesn't really answer my question about what you want me to do," Flynn told him.

There was a brief pause before Mayvin gave a frustrated breath. "I can't get close to Zaphias," he admitted. "Every time I do…I can't explain it. I get the urge just to leave. Humans don't seem affected. That's why I need you."

It seemed like a half-assed answer. But Flynn knew from experience that this would be the best he got out of Mayvin.

Suddenly he heard Mayvin start coughing. When Flynn turned his head, he caught in time to see blood in Mayvin's hand. The elf tried to hide it. But he knew Flynn already saw. So he clenched his blood covered fist. "I don't have much time left," he answered without any question asked.

Flynn wasn't sure how he felt about that news. Mayvin was a lot of things, and Flynn wasn't even sure if he could count him as an ally. But he felt a little distress about this news.

"So how many of the ancient elves will be left?" Flynn asked. He knew Mayvin just enough to know he wouldn't want any pity for his eventual demise. Mayvin thought it best if he did die.

"Let's just say a small human child could easily count them," Mayvin answered. "I guess you can say the reason I'm seeking your help is in the event I die before this matter is resolved. I know you'll keep doing something about it."

"Well, looking into those renegades wouldn't be a complete waste. We all want answers for why they took over Zaphias."

"See, it's a win, win for both of us," Mayvin said with his usual smile returning. "By the way, I'm curious to know about whether you knew about that kid's healing powers."

"If you're taking about Elena, I knew her powers were greater than Estellise's. But I didn't know to this degree," Flynn said honestly. Both Yuri and Estellise had confided in in Flynn about the power of the Child of the Full Moon that Elena had once they discovered how strong it was in hopes that he would help keep it secret from anyone else. "If you're suggesting that I use children to solve this matter then-"

But he was interrupted by Mayvin giving a small laugh. "I'll admit that the girl has healing powers almost equal to an elf. But that's not the one I'm talking about."

Mayvin had a knowing smile. But just when Flynn was about to ask when he could hear someone running down the hall. It was soon followed by someone bursting to the room. "Sir Scifo," a knight exclaimed as soon as the door was open. The knight's breath was ragged from running the whole way here.

Flynn had turned to see who had come in. But when he looked back to Mayvin, the elf was long gone. Flynn silently cursed the knight. Then he got up to face the knight. "What is it?" He asked.

"Someone's come seeking an audience with Her Highness. They're claiming to be from the group that took over Zaphias," the knight quickly said as he was still breathing pretty hard.

Flynn's eyes were growing wide as he looked at the knight. He then quickly grabbed his sword. "Where is Her Highness at now?" Flynn quickly asked as he started speed walking out of the room. He was really glad he never took is sword off. He wasn't going with his armor because that would waste too much time. Mayvin must have known the renegades were here. Why else would he have shown up just before?

"In the throne room," he answered as he hurried to catch up to Flynn. "We have the visitors waiting in a room. "Empress Iolanda is waiting for you before she receives them."

"Why the hell is she meeting with them?" Flynn asked. They should arrest them and integrate them. The guilds weren't the only ones with rumors on murdering Emperor Ioder. There were plenty of stories that the renegades were behind it.

"They're claiming to be ambassadors," the knight went on to explain. "Her Highness had no choice but to accept them."

Flynn just gritted his teeth. He worried what these people were planning. But he supposed having open communication with them would benefit them. They were completely in the dark when it came to the renegades. They didn't know if they were former Empire citizens, guild citizens, or even if they were truly some kind of invaders. Plus, this would be his chance to learn some about Gillion.

Flynn reached the throne room in record time to see the young Empress sitting on a throne that looked too big for her. She was the spitting image of Ioder with wild blond hair that her maids always complained about keeping braided to make her look more regal rather than the child she was. She was in a simple black dress. She also didn't wear her crown because it was far too big and heavy for her. She was only thirteen.

The head of the council, Alvar Sabeline, was already by her side and was practically sweating under the stress. He, James Aurion, and Flynn, acted as Iolanda's advisors.

"Sir Scifo," the little Empress said once she saw him. There was a little bit relief seeing him.

There was also relief in Alvar's face. "By the goddess Sir Scifo," Sabeline started to say. "What are we going to do? We just recovered from the last attack. What if they-"

But Flynn gave him a death glare and that shut the politician up. There was no point in scaring Iolanda further. "We shall receive them and see what they want. Then they will be on their way. One way or another," Flynn said firmly and had his hand resting on his sword. Then he gave the Empress a reassured smile. "Whenever you are ready, Your Highness."

"Sir Scifo, do you really think they are here just to talk?" She asked him. She tried to put on a brave face and to look like the Empress everyone expected her to be. But she was understandably still jumpy from what happened earlier today.

"If they aren't, I can assure you they will not have a chance to get anywhere close to you," Flynn told her.

She nodded and motioned for a knight to get the guests.

There were several tense moments as they waited for their guests. There were currently twenty knights in the throne room. Flynn really wished that James was in the city instead of away at Heliord to try and keep the peace with the guilds. He could use his prowess and even his monsters for added protection.

Soon the double doors opened up again. Flynn had not been prepared for what he was about to see with their guests. It was just two women who entered the throne room. One of them looked like an ambassador should. She had red hair tied up artfully and wore rich looking purple kimono with birds on it. But she was just the servant to the ambassador the way she bowed and held her hand out to her companion. "Your Highness, Iolanda, I would like to introduce you to Lady Oanez. Trusted advisor to our King Raymond, Ruler of the Sylvarant Kingdom."

Lady Oanez, ambassador and royal advisor, was a short woman with long wild brown hair, dark common looking cloths, and wore bandages all over her. Even over one of her eyes. "Nice to meet all of you," Lady Oanez said casually and with a wave.


	8. Chapter 8

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 8: Ambassador 

Flynn was still getting over Lady Oanez's appearance and manners and had almost over looked the part where they said Sylvarant Kingdom.

"There is no such Kingdom," Sabeline quickly claimed.

"Of course there is," Oanez said with her head tilted. "It's where your old capital used to be. You all took so long to reclaim it, so Ray Ray decided to stake a claim to it."

While they briefly wondered who she was talking about, the servant quickly cleared it up. "In Lady Oanez's insolence, she means His Highness Raymond."

"Yeah that's what I said, Ray Ray," Oanez said looking back at her companion. To which the servant just looked annoyed. She quickly pulled out a small hand fan to hide her displeasure.

"He claims to be a king, but what business does he want with the Empire?" The Empress then asked. She fought to keep her voice steady. Flynn could see the child had her hands folded in her lap but had her nails digging into her skin.

Oanez just blinked at them. "Well I didn't bring his pedigree, but he does have ties to one of your Emperors. Which one was that again…The adventuring one. Ray Ray is like that guy's great-grandson but through a bastard or something like that. So he definitely has royal blood if that's what you all are concerned with. Not that it really matters to his kingdom."

"Is he trying to lay claim to the Empire?" Flynn quickly asked.

"Even if what you say is true, an illegitimate heir has no right to a throne," Sabeline said.

Oanez scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, yeah, look, we've been busy rebuilding what you used to call Zaphias into the Sylvarant Kingdom. Now I'm here to make it official and see if you want to sign an armistice so our kingdoms can start being neighbors. We can even start talking about trade if you want. But another day because trade talk bores me."

"You take our kingdom and land, you've even slaughtered our citizens," Flynn spat out angrily. "Now you want us to be friends."

"First off, we didn't slaughter anyone who didn't fight," Oanez explained calmly. "Both sides lost some in those skirmishes. I understand why you all are still butt hurt over the whole thing. But no one was even settled in Zaphias. You were still taking your time rebuilding it. Are you sure you're just not pissed that you now have another kingdom to compete with?"

"That is the land where the first Emperor built the Empire," Iolanda said. "And you stole it from us."

The woman let out a sigh. "Look, we can keep going in circles on this. If you're really feel that passionate, we can always go to war and you can claim the land back if you win."

Flynn couldn't believe that she just outright said it. This was some ambassador.

Suddenly Oanez looked serious for the first time. "But neither of us wants that. Especially you though. War would be a financial burden on us and set us back a few years. However you are put at more of a disadvantage."

"What makes you so certain in that?" Sabeline asked. "We have an army of highly trained knights."

"And you're currently on bad terms with the guilds," Oanez told them. "If you go to war with us, it is highly probable that the guilds would use that as an opportunity to attack. And no matter how finely trained your knights may be, you won't last long on a two-front war. And before you say it, the guild cities have nothing to gain if they attack us. They have no reason to seek more land and one of Ray's ambassadors used to be a part of one the five master guilds and even has deep ties with Palestralle. So due to the guild's treaty with one another, the Union won't make a move on our kingdom when we're on good terms with Palestralle."

Flynn wondered briefly if she meant Gillian. Being a member of the White Sentinels would have certainly given him connections with people in Palestralle.

"Are you trying to insinuate that you have more allies than us?" Councilor Sabeline asked.

"Not really," Oanez told them. "We're on good terms with them, but I doubt they'd join a war for us at this point in time. At least we didn't betray the guilds trust like you did."

 _So they even know about that,_ Flynn thought bitterly. Relations with the guild became worse after Zaphias was taken and Ioder was murdered. Aurnion was meant to be a city for all. But when Zaphias had been destroyed over twenty years ago, the guilds gladly opened the city for citizens of the Empire. Then when lands were taken, by who Oanez calls the Sylvarant Kingdom, the guilds were probably a little irritated, but allowed Aurnion to become home of the Empire until it could get back on its feet. Then Ioder was killed.

Fingers were pointed everywhere and mainly at the guilds. The child Empress was given bad counsel and she banished the guilds thinking they were responsible for her father's death. So the city of Hope and Friendship between the Empire and Guilds was gone forever. And things have just gotten worse.

"Of course everything I said would be your worst-case scenario," Oanez added. "But even if the guild cities decided to stay out of our war, I'd take a guess that our odds of winning would still be about fifty-three percent. And Ray and I are gamblers, so we'll take those odds."

"I'm not sure how you came up with those odds, but is that your real tactic? To scare us into not opposing you?" Flynn said.

Oanez still had a serious look and she gave a tired breath. "I knew it was too soon to reveal ourselves to you all. But no, Ray Ray just had to make us known. All we're trying to do is avoid a war, much like I assume you all are doing with the guild cities at this moment. Sure, I can give you statistics and the possible odds. But let's face it, our world and its people have no idea what war is really like. The Great War we refer to is called that on the loses of terms. People were fighting against monsters, not each other. So none of us have any way to accurately predict how the war will go."

Just then the woman started walking up the stairs, toward the Empress. The knights quickly readied their weapons. But having them out did nothing for the woman. She kept walking until Flynn stepped in front of the Empress and drew his sword so it was against the woman's bandaged throat. She didn't so much as flinch and went on. "For all we know, it could cause both of our mutual destruction. Us humans crave different things; glory, money, sex, bloodshed, and even death. So with a battlefield open to everyone, how do you think it will go for a bunch of newbies? Will they find joy in murdering people?"

"Step back from Her Highness, or you will no longer have a head," Flynn quickly warned. He would not allow her this close to Iolanda. All of the alarms were going off in Flynn's head with this woman.

"Kill Lady Oanez and you have all but insured there will be a war," Oanez's companion shouted. Flynn noticed something shinning under the woman's sleeve. A knife, perhaps? She was planning to attack if Flynn intended to follow through with his threat.

"Look, you're not bad looking," Oanez suddenly said in a lighter manner. Then Flynn felt as her hand moved up to grab the blade. Then she pushed it a little so the blade wasn't resting against her neck anymore. "But I don't have any desire to be killed by an old man." She was squeezing the blade now so that her hand was bleeding through the bandages.

Her next action really confused Flynn, because she quickly smiled and said, "Now if you were maybe twenty years younger, I'd gladly let you kill me. That's definitely in my top five ways to die."

" _Lady Oanez,_ " her companion seemed to threaten with gritted teeth. It made Flynn wonder if this was something common this woman talked about.

At that, Oanez let go of Flynn's sword and jumped down the stairs to rejoin her companion. "There's two reasons why I was chosen to be the king's ambassador. One of them being because I crave death. Anyone else more qualified for this job refused because of the fear you'd just outright execute them." That weird side of her returned then to say, "That's why this job sucks so much, I'm not allowed to die because it would cause a war. I've already had to pass up few great ways to kill myself on this trip."

 _Why does she sound so disappointed?_ Flynn only briefly wondered.

Then that seriousness returned in her eyes. "The other reason is because I'm pretty good at predicting the way people will react. Now that I've seen your kingdom, I'm all but sure that war will end in your own destruction And it won't be because of the enemy."

"Can I have time to think about the situation?" Iolanda suddenly asked. That startled Flynn to hear that. But not as much as Sabeline. He almost said something against it. Thankfully he chose to keep his mouth shut. It would not look good for the Empress' advisors to be questioning her decisions.

Oanez blinked up at the Empress. "That's fair, I guess," she answered. "But we are planning on leaving after this. But we can make it back here before we return home. That'll give you a month to decide if you prefer peace or war." With that, she and her companion turned to leave.

Flynn motioned for the knights to let the women go through no problem. They left with no incident and once the door closed behind them, Flynn said, "I want them followed."

"I know the perfect person," Sabeline said. "I also want to know who they met with and every meal they ate."

Sabeline was from an old noble family that has had their ups and downs over the years serving the Empire. Flynn at least believed whole heartily that the Sabeline family would do anything for the Empire and their ruler. The only down side was that he was in favor going to war with the guilds. Maybe this whole Sylvarant business will at least put a pause on that.

"Do you think they have support in the city," Lady Iolanda asked her advisers. She couldn't hide her fear anymore. She was shaking a bit.

Flynn then turned to the Empress and knelt down in front of her. "We will get to the bottom of this, Your Highness. All I can promise is that I will keep you safe, no matter what. That is my top priority."

"But Sir Scifo," the Empress started to say. "Is it true what she said. If we went to war, would we really have that much of a disadvantage?"

Of course that was what Iolanda was worried about. Many on the council was ready for a war with the guilds just to get it over with. "I at least believe one thing she said, the war would be unpredictable," Flynn told honestly. He wanted to avoid a war at all cost. But there was just something that wasn't sitting right with him. Was it the because they were finally having another kingdom to compete with. Or was it because Gillian was in the Sylvarant Kingdom? Something in Flynn was just yelling that going to war was some kind of trap. What is Gillian wanting to achieve?

 _Damn you Mayvin, where are you when you are really needed?_

"Your Highness, you will not be alone in this," Sabeline told her. He knelt in front of the child Empress. "The Sabeline family creed is "Absolute loyalty to the Empire". We shall serve you till our dying breath."

Lady Iolanda looked uncomfortable. "I don't want anyone to die," she muttered.

Flynn wished he could protect her like he would his own child from the harshness of situation. He wanted to promise nothing bad would happen. But that wasn't a possible outcome. The only thing he could promise was that he would do anything to protect her.

Suddenly a knight ran into the room and up to Flynn. "Sir Scifo," he said in an urgent voice.

"What is it now?" Flynn asked. What else could be so urgent that it would require his attention.

"It's your wife, Lady Scifo. She's greatly distressed," the knight explained.

Flynn really had to fight the urge not to groan or roll his eyes. He knew what that meant. This was her attempt to get his attention when she felt he was neglecting her. She had a tendency to overreact. Especially when Flynn hadn't been home for a day or so. After hearing about the attack at the castle, she probably thought she could use it as an excuse to call him home. "If she is that worried, she can have a few more knights around," Flynn told him and hoped that would give him at least one day's peace to deal with the bigger crisis on hand. She couldn't seem to grasp that there were bigger issues at hand.

"No sir, she's worried about your son. He hasn't been seen since this morning," the knight quickly explained.

Flynn froze hearing that.

/~/~/

Raiden and the others reached Aurnion Port in just a few hours with nightfall almost upon them. The port town was just as busy as the capital. Raiden was hoping that they could get on a boat tonight. But they would likely have to stay at an inn to wait for a ship in the morning.

They had barely made it into the city limits when they suddenly heard someone call out, "I've finally caught up to you criminals."

Raiden did look around, but was really looking for whoever the criminal was. No one was running. Then they heard the same voice call out, "Don't you dare walk away from me." This time the voice sounded a bit whinier.

Finally Raiden turned around to see a boy maybe a year or two younger than Raiden. He had short, straight blonde hair with right side bangs being long enough to cover his right eye. He was dressed like a noble wearing a rich looking training doublet with arm and leg braces that were only type of armor he wore. In his hand was a simple combat staff with no sharp edges.

Raiden pointed to himself. "Are you talking to me?" He asked the boy.

The boy looked annoyed. "Of course I'm talking to you," he answered. "You disrupted the peace of Aurnion and even escaped justice by breaking out of jail."

Raiden just blinked at the boy. Rune did the same thing and Elena was busy reading that she probably didn't even notice the boy had stopped them. "Dude, I didn't do any of those things," Raiden said bluntly. "The commander of the Royal Knights let me go _because_ I didn't do anything wrong."

For some reason, the boy seemed to have flinched when Raiden mentioned Flynn. But he quickly recomposed himself. "Well I was ordered to keep close watch on you by my superiors," the boy claimed.

"But that doesn't make any sense," Rune said a bit sheepishly.

Raiden looked to his sister for some clarification. But she was still nose deep in her book. They were on their own. "I'm pretty sure even that would be super illegal, to follow a citizen," Raiden added.

"I don't think that's the issue," Rune commented to Raiden. "It's more to the fact that he's about the same age as us."

"I may be young, but I am a knight," the boy defended, but seemed a bit flustered. "I graduated from the academy early."

"I guess that's not impossible," Rune commented.

"Look, I am a knight, and this is my first solo mission without my brigade," the boy stated firmly. "I was sent to keep an eye on you so you don't cause any more trouble."

Raiden felt a bit annoyed. He had wondered if Flynn decided to send a knight to accompany them. But wouldn't it make more sense to send an experienced knight considering where they were going? Then it suddenly dawned on Raiden. The boy really did look familiar. "So are you not planning on introducing yourself?" Raiden asked. He was pretty sure he knew who this boy was.

"Very well, my name is Matthias. You may refer to me as Lord or Commander Matthias," the boy stated without any shame.

Raiden started to laugh a bit. "So little Mattie really did become a knight," Raiden tried to say as serious as he could. But he just couldn't believe that Matthias would think Raiden wouldn't recognize him.

Matthias couldn't keep his composer and got really flustered. "How many times have I told you not to call me that. My name is Matthias. And I'm not short anymore."

"You know him Raiden?" Rune asked.

"We used to play together when we used to live in Halure," Raiden explained. "He's Flynn son, remembered?"

It then clicked with him too. "Oh, the little boy who cried because he thought we abandoned him in the woods when really we just got out of sight," Rune recalled.

When they used to live in Halure, Flynn had visited more and brought his son. Raiden and Rune didn't really have much of an opinion of Mattie since they didn't see him very often. He had sort of been a bit of a pain to play with. Raiden's dad always commented that Flynn's son acted more like a spoiled prince than a knight's son. Raiden had gotten in trouble with Mattie's mother for playing too rough with her "delicate son" plenty of times. So young Raiden didn't think playing with Mathias Scifo was that fun.

"I was not that short," Matthias argued. He had always been smaller than average. It seemed like he finally caught up. Although Raiden was still slightly taller.

"Well Mattie, I'm glad you got to become a knight like you wanted," Rune commented.

"Matthias Scifo is my name," Mattie stated. "Since I'm a knight now, you have to show me at least that much respect."

"Fine, Matthias," Raiden ceded. "So what, your dad sent you to watch us?"

"Exactly," Matthias claimed. "I'm here to make sure you three don't get into any more trouble."

"It's not exactly like we caused that much trouble in the first place," Raiden muttered.

"But why didn't you just tell us who you were at the beginning?" Rune asked.

"People think just because I'm the Commander's son that I'm only here for that, but I want to assure you that I'm here from my own merit," Matthias told them.

Raiden supposed that made sense. A little. Flynn didn't seem like the type to send his own son into dangerous territory though. But as long as he didn't get in their way.

"Fine, we're heading to Heilord," Raiden told.

"Very well," Matthias said. "I've been there plenty of times. So I'll help you navigate the city better then you could have on your own."

Just then they heard a book close shut. Elena looked up at them, but paused at Matthias. "Who's the loser?" Elena asked.

It took some time to explain to her who she was. She never really played with them and definitely wasn't good at remembering real people. Even before all the bullying at school, Elena was pretty shy with new people and preferred to read. Fictional characters she could quote and recall with almost 100% accuracy.

"Where's your sword?" Elena asked bluntly.

Now that she mentioned it, Raiden did think it was a bit odd. Raiden distinctly remembered that Mattie wanted to be a swordsman like Flynn. Strange he wouldn't have one. The staff wasn't for magic, but just a basic self-defense staff.

"I found I was more skilled in staff training then I was swordplay," Matthias explained.

"Lame," Elena said. "Minus ten points," she muttered.

"What are you talking about?" Raiden asked his sister irritably, though he had a feeling that he would regret it.

"Character points," Elena answered. "That was a lame character introduction. Plus staffs like that one are just boring for a main character claiming to be a knight." Sable seemed to bark in agreement.

"Of course," Raiden muttered as he rubbed his head. It shouldn't surprise him that his bookworm of a sister would start review people she just met like characters.

An apology on Elena's behalf was right on the tip of his tongue. But then Matthias said, "I see, I'll have to work harder to make you think more highly of me. Miss, I will be a shining example of what a knight should be."

Elena ignored him and had already found another book to read. She and Sable were already walking toward the port town.

/~/~/

 **Skit: Miss Maiden**

 **Matthias** : Raiden Lowell, you are the lowest of the low.

 **Raiden** : What did I do this time?

 **Matthias** : We're going into the savage guild county and you bring your little sister.

 **Raiden** looking annoyed: Dude, I would have liked nothing more than for Elena to stay at home. But she came on her own.

 **Matthias** : I know you're not a knight, but to think you can't consider Miss Elena's safety or feelings. The way you talk to her should make you ashamed as a man. Not to mention you making her carry her own bag.

 **Raiden** : Look, I get that you're an only child. But this is how siblings interact with one another. And for your information, I do worry about her. But it's more for other's benefit.

 **Matthias** : What do you mean? Miss Elena is delicate flower.

 **Raiden** : That. I wouldn't say that in front of her if you want to stay the same color.

 **Matthias** : You're just uncouth. Watch. *Elena walks by* Miss Elena, that bag looks heavy, I wouldn't mind to carry your bag.

 **Elena** : Drop the "miss."

 **Matthias** looking confused: Huh?

 **Elena** : It's just Elena, got it.

 **Matthias** : Oh, if you say so.

 **Elena** : Then here. *Large crash and Elena walks away.

 **Matthias** : What the- *huff* You let her carry something so heavy?

 **Raiden** : Those are all the books she brought for this journey. It looks like she bought more in the city. Good luck carrying her and your bag. *Walks off.

 **Matthias** breathing hard: Come on Matthias, what would your mother say if you don't carry a lady's bag. *Breath* You can do this.

/~/~/

 _"This is so annoying," Raiden complained to Rune as they heard Mattie crying. They weren't even that far away from him._

 _Rune looked a bit uncomfortable listening to Mattie freaking out. Halure was still in sight and if Mattie would just get up and walk a few steps he'd see them. "I guess hide and seek is out of the question for him," Rune said._

 _Raiden could handle people being scared, like Rune. But Mattie was like a baby. He practically wanted to hold hands while playing. That was no fun._

 _Raiden's dad then appeared. There was a moment when he had a worried look. But he saw Raiden and Rune and realized what was going on. He gave a sigh when he said, "I thought one of you was hurt or something." Really, he meant "I thought Raiden did something stupid that caused someone else to get hurt."_

 _"Mattie is just being a baby," Raiden complained._

 _Yuri put his hand on his son's head. "I know that he acts more like a delicate little prince rather than a knight's son. But try to go a little easier on him," Yuri told them. But then he gave him a mischievous grin. "Not too easy though. Someone has to toughen him up a bit, right?"_

 _Raiden gave him a reluctant smile. He wished Mattie would toughen up already._

 _Yuri then walked a little ways toward to the crying kid. Just so he was in sight. "Matthias, they're over here," Yuri called out. He was going to make Matthias walk._

 _If it had been anyone else, Yuri probably would have left them to figure it out themselves. He only step in because there was probably no telling what Matthias' mother would do if she heard her child cry. Raiden would never complain about his own mother or even Aunt Rita for that matter. Matthias' mother was so proper and acted like she and her son were made of glass._

 _Anytime Raiden saw Flynn, he just couldn't believe that he was married to someone like that. They were such opposites. When Raiden made a comment on that, his mother explained that Flynn and Lady Scifo did like each other, but that they only married for political reasons. Raiden didn't really get it and then asked his parents if they had to do something similar._

 _For some reason, that made his dad laugh. "You mother would have, if I didn't come into the picture."_

 _"You really are a terrible influence," his mother said in a light joking tone._

 _Mattie finally caught up with them and was sniffling his cries. "Why did you guys leave me?" Mattie asked._

 _"We didn't though," Rune tried to tell the boy._

 _"You're such a cry baby," Raiden said. "And you really think you be a knight?"_

 _"I will become a knight, just like my dad," Mattie declared with tears still in his eyes._

 _"Well you better get tougher," Yuri told the kid._

/~/~/

The room was dark with just a single candle burning. But the one waiting didn't need to see. The less they saw, the less information they can give if caught. The figure was waiting for orders with, wearing dark formless clothing to hide and white mask.

The masked individual looked up when they heard someone approaching the dungeon. "Grim Shade," the new voice said. Grim Shade knew it was Grand Viper, the leader of their organization. "You have a new mission."

"I am, but a tool for the Empress," Grim Shade recited.

"Two women appeared to the Empress today declaring themselves members of a new kingdom," Grand Viper began to explain.

"Do you want them dead?" Grim Shade asked.

"Not yet," he answered. "I want to know their every move. But if you feel they are a threat to the Empire, I will trust your judgement on whether to kill them or not."

"What of my other mission?" Grim Shade asked.

"I'm told they are going to same place you were originally going. I have faith you can multi-task," Grand Viper said. "Out of everyone in our order, you show the most promise of bringing us back into the Empire's shadow."

"We are the hidden blade and shadow of the Empire," Grim Shade recited as they stood up. They were once the Empire's Shadow, its assassins. Their order almost vanished with the long absence of the Emperor. Emperor Ioder was ignorant to their existence as is the little Empress. Many of them blamed the lack of activity of the absence that led to the death of the Emperor. But no more.

Grim Shade could not let that happen again. That's why three important guild members would die soon. Grim Shade would protect the Empire at any cost.


	9. Chapter 9

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 9: The Scholar City**

They had to spend the night at the port city. Raiden was just going to get one room to save some gald. But Matthias demanded that they get a separate room for Elena; something about how a young woman shouldn't share a room with men. Elena didn't give an opinion because she was busy reading.

Raiden tried to explain to him that it really didn't matter. It was at least settled that they would only get one room since Raiden wasn't budging on spending more gald and if Matthias really felt that adamant about it he could purchase the room. Apparently Matthias didn't bring any money with him.

That also meant that Raiden would have to pay for Matthias' ticket for the ship. Matthias was also a little shocked to learn that they would have to sleep in bunkbeds in a room of over twenty people since the trip would have to be an overnight trip to reach Heilord's dock. Just like when they were kids, Matthias was being a pain.

They were all on the deck enjoying the sea breeze and sunshine, expect Elena who was in the shade with Sable reading. "This is the first time you've been a ship since we had to flee from Halure, right Rune? You're not scared."

Rune shook his head. "Weather's nice and there are no monsters. So I should have no reason to be scared," he told him.

Raiden was glad to hear that.

"Oh, since we're going through Heilord, we should visit Benji," Rune suddenly said.

Raiden scratched his head in embarrassment. "I can't believe I never thought of that," he said. Before he and Rune had even decided to go on this journey, they were already planning a trip to Heilord to see Benji.

"Who is Benji?" Matthias asked.

"He's a kritya that pretty much lived with our families when we were still in Halure," Raiden told him. "He's really smart, maybe even more than Aunt Rita, so he's at the academy in Heilord." Raiden did think of Benji as family. But the two of them were never close. Elena and Benji were actually really close. The two of them would just read together. Rune and Benji would also work on formulas together. Raiden and Benji never really found anything in common.

"I heard my father talking about Ms. Judith having a child, is he the same person?" Matthias asked.

"Yeah, that's his mother," Rune answered. And no one knew his father was.

Just one random day, Judith stopped in Halure with Ba'ul and had a two-year-old Benji with her. Raiden was only five and he was the only one confused. His parents were just as startled. Raiden knew krityans to be an odd bunch. But it was really odd that Judith would just say, "This is Benji, my son I found. You all wouldn't mind keeping an eye on him? I have a pretty dangerous job to do that I couldn't bear to bring him with me."

And that is how Benji pretty much lived with the Lowells. Until some mages invited Benji to join the academy.

"He really must be brilliant to attend the Academy in Heilord," Matthias commented. "Kids studying to be mages and scientists go there and it's a highly competitive school."

"There were a lot of mages in Halure at the time," Rune explained. "They were all surprised with how well Benji could follow their notes of formulas for mana conversion. When he was six he was even able to make a devise for lighting a whole room that only used mana. So all the mages in Halure gave Benji recommendations. So he didn't even have to take an entrance exam."

Raiden chuckled a bit thinking about all the stuff Benji used to build. He shared a room with Raiden and half of the room was always filled with stuff for him to fix or build. His parents were about to have a building made so Benji could have his space to create. But then he got accepted into the academy.

"I can't believe I forgot you all were from Halure," Matthias suddenly said. Then he suddenly bowed his head to Raiden. "I never did express my condolences for the loss of your father. I'm of the same opinion as my own father that he was a man with a good heart."

Raiden knew that Matthias was being nice right now. But he really wished he'd just act like a normal person. It had been a few years since Yuri Lowell died, so it was fine if he didn't give condolences. He looked out at the sea. "Thanks," he mumbled.

"So…were you all really in Halure when those renegades attack?" Matthias then asked.

Raiden and Rune fell quiet. The two of them didn't talk about that day. Aunt Rita and Rune had actually been at Heilord at the time. To this day, Rune had never asked Raiden about that day.

Thankfully Matthias seemed to understand and dropped it. "Sorry," he said.

"Why don't we go get lunch," Rune suggested to help move away from the subject.

"Yeah, food sounds good," Raiden said and they started moving toward the mess hall. Raiden saw that Elena was still sitting reading. "Come on Elena, you need to eat something," Raiden told her and hoped she heard him.

As he started walking away, Raiden felt someone grab the back of his jacket. When he looked back, he saw his sister had grabbed it. She wasn't looking at him. "T-thanks," she muttered.

Raiden just gave her a confused look. "You're welcome?" He said sounding just as confused.

"I glad I didn't have to sleep in a strange room by myself," Elena said softly.

Raiden hadn't even considered that. His sister was a recluse. So for her to stay by herself in a room she had never been in and even without her pet, it probably was stressful for her. But he did have one question. "Why didn't you just say something last night?"

Elena didn't say anything and just had her same board expression. She then just walked away without saying anything.

It looked like his sister was still shy in some cases. She really had only talked with close family friends, Raiden, and their mother over the years. But she was able to talk with the strange woman back at Aurnion. Maybe she was shyer around people about the same age as her.

The was a small smile on Raiden's face though. He was glad that he was able to help his sister be a little more comfortable.

/~/~/

The next day they arrived at Heilord. The city had really expanded so it would have a port to get they're supplies easer. After the renegades took Zaphias, New Aspio had to be abandoned as a research institute and replaced with people figuring out how to get Zaphias back. So Heilord became the Empire's main research institute. It was already on its way to becoming that before, but in collaboration with the guilds.

Raiden knew from what his mom told him that the people from the guild cities still attended the academy. It was pretty much the last thing that held the guilds and the Empire together on friendly terms. If something were to happen to the academy, then war between them was ensured.

The city was just so big and Raiden couldn't believe how much it had grown. The last time he was here was when his family dropped Benji off. Rune and Elena didn't look as bewildered as Raiden since they visited the city a few times before. Yet Raiden was startled to see how Matthias had a look of wonder in his eye.

"This is your first time seeing the city, isn't?" Elena commented. As anti-social as she was, she was pretty good at reading people and could spot bullshit.

That caused Matthias to get flustered that seemed to confirm what Elena asked. "Isn't only natural to marvel at a city of the Empire?"

"You can admit that you've never been here," Raiden told him.

Matthias just tried to play it off. "It may have been a year since I was last here and it was with my father. But I still have quite the knowledge of it."

Raiden wanted to call him out on it, similar to what he tried to do with Elena in Aurnion. However it was Elena who went on to say, "Come, let's go see Benji. He's probably at lunch now."

All of the buildings in Heilord were nice and could start to look the same. So someone could easily miss the Academy. Even the sign could easily be missed. The school was between the inn and the knight's headquarters.

Matthias still had a look of awe when they were inside the academy. It may not have been as nice as what Matthias lived in. However it did look like they were walking into a museum.

Raiden went up to the secretary. "We're here to see Benji," he told the woman. Hopefully he just went by Benji and not something like Benji the Kritya.

"What is your name?" She asked.

"Raiden Lowell," he gave.

She was looking through some papers. "Lowell is on his visitation list," the woman commented. She looked up to see that they were all kids. "Where is Mrs. Lowell? We can't just let a bunch of children in without adult supervision."

Raiden glanced at Elena and quickly came up with an excuse. "My mom couldn't make it, so she sent us a letter to give to Benji," Raiden told her.

Without missing a beat, Elena pulled out the blank envelope with their mother's seal. Matthias looked like he was about to say something, but Elena elbowed him in the gut.

The woman saw the seal and said, "I see, I will call for Mr. Benji. If you'll follow this guard to the visitor's room. Since you're just children, we can't allow you into the school." She motioned to a guard that was just in uniform. Raiden smiled to her and followed the guard.

He led them down a hall and to a room that didn't have a door to it. "Your friend will be here shortly. You can visit until afternoon bell." Then the guard left them in a visitor's room. There was a table with a few chairs in it. There was even a small window. But it was so small that no one could fit through it. It was good that they were protective of the students. Children of guild members and the Empire attended here. So with tensions high, the staff must be working overtime to keep the peace. However this room looked like they were keeping the students in.

"You're a mage, right," Matthias suddenly asked Rune. "Why don't you attend this school?"

Rune suddenly looked uncomfortable. He was looking down at his hands in his lap. "W-well…," he started to mutter. "I-I learn a lot from my mother, so I didn't really see the need to go to a school like this."

"Well even if you did take the entrance exam, you would have easily passed," Raiden told his friend. But that didn't seem to elevate any anxiety.

"I certainly wasn't expecting any visitors today," a familiar voice said. "Keep this brief since I have a lot of work to do."

Benji was standing in the door way with his arms crossed. He was shorter than all of them and had short blue hair and matching antennas. He was dressed in the academy's uniform and that also comprised of a lab coat. "They said that Mrs. Lowell sent me a letter," he walked in and held his hand out to accept in. Benji actually looked annoyed that they were visiting.

"That was a lie just so we could see you," Raiden admitted.

"Why am I not surprised," Benji muttered. "Thanks, but I don't have time to socialize. Tell your mother I'll try to make it to Arie Hallow next holiday."

He was actually walking away. "Come on, we came all this way to visit you. The least you can do is spare at least ten minutes," Raiden told him bluntly.

Benji looked at his watch. "I'll give you five," he said as he turned back and went to sit next to Elena. Raiden took a seat on Elena's other side. Matthias was the only not sitting. "So, what is the special occasion for your visit? I'm surprised with you Rune, I wouldn't have thought you'd leave your lessons."

Rune had that same uncomfortable look. They hadn't talked about whether they were going to tell Benji about they're real reason for being here. He would definitely not approve.

"I wanted to come see you," Elena said to keep Rune from speaking. "Mom's busy with council stuff, so she said Raiden and Rune could take me."

The kritya wasn't expecting that. It had caught him off guard. "O-oh," Benji stuttered. To change the subject, he looked other at Matthias. "So who's the emo over there?"

Raiden had to stop himself from laughing because Matthias looked just like he did when he called him Matty. "You may address me as Lord Matthias Scifo."

"Oh, Flynn' son. I see the resemblance now," Benji said before turning back to Elena. Matthias looked more annoyed that Benji just went to ignore him. He didn't say anything though. "Well I wasn't expecting to see you Elena, but I was going to send this with your mother to you," he said as he pulled out an old looking book from his lab coat. "It's an old book about theories of the ancient race."

Elena had the same board expression as she accepted the book. "Yeah, it looks old," she commented. For those that didn't know Elena well, could assume she didn't like it. But she had a shine in her eye to show that she could hardly contain her excitement to read it. It was a subtle thing that very few people could pick up on about her. Benji was one of them.

She already opened the book as was glancing at the pages. Raiden could tell that she was really fighting the urge to not start reading. "The library here has so many books that there are probably some that you've never heard of," Benji conversed. "Of course you'd have attend the school just to be able to even step into the library."

"Not happening," Elena said without hesitation. Even if she could have access to all books in the world, Elena still wouldn't want to return to school. If she did decide to go this this school she would have probably just stay in the library the whole time and miss all her classes.

Benji, Rune, and Elena were having a small conversation about the devices he was working on. For the most part, Raiden didn't converse much or follow it much. And Raiden just sat silently listening.

In probably exactly five minutes, Benji got up to say, "It's time for me to return to my studies. Have a safe trip home."

"You really can't spare more than five minutes," Raiden said out loud. He felt irritated with him just for Elena's sake. She never said it, but she missed talking with Benji. "It's not like anyone else will visit you." The moment Raiden said that, he truly wished he didn't.

There was a moment of hurt all over the kritya's face. Then it was replaced with anger. "I remember you making it very clear when we were kids that we weren't family. So it's fine that I don't have family that visits me."

"Benji we were kids," Raiden said as he stood up.

But he ignored him. "Thank you for the visit Elena. You too Rune. But I have to get back to work now." And he walked off then.

Raiden felt awful that he really wished that he had just kept his mouth closed. He really could have said anything else and it would have been better. Raiden then felt something hit him in the back of the knee. It was Elena with her eyes narrowed at him. "Idiot," she said spitefully. He was actually glad that she hit him, he deserved it of course.

Rune gave him a sympathetic look. "Raiden," he said. He probably couldn't believe that Raiden of all people would have said that to Benji. Not long after Yuri was killed, no one had seen or heard from Judith. No one had even spotted Ba'ul. So the two of them were presumed dead. But before that had even happened, Judith had barely visited her son while he was at the academy.

Raiden didn't say anything and just started walking out of the academy with the others. He just never thought the words he had said to Benji would still hurt him after all this time.

/~/~/

 _"Raiden, why did you say that to Benji?" Raiden's mother asked. Raiden was only about seven, but old enough to understand what people of Halure were talking about when they thought he wasn't listening._

 _"Because he's not," Raiden snapped. "Everyone keeps saying that Benji is dad's other kid."_

 _Shortly after Judith had first brought Benji to live with them, so many people started talking that Yuri and Judith had a kid together. Raiden's mother had cried a lot over those rumors. But Yuri had told her that they weren't true._ "Your father says they're not true _," Estelle had told Raiden when he first asked about them._ "He's not a liar, right? So they're not true."

 _Raiden believed his dad too. But he didn't want to see his mom cry again. So when little Benji asked Raiden if Yuri was his dad, Raiden got upset and said what he said to him; that they weren't family. Which caused Benji to cry._

 _Raiden could hear his dad give a sigh before moving his son so Raiden was looking right at him. "You and Elly are more than I can handle. I'm not having any more kids," Yuri said as a light joke. Raiden believed his dad of course. But he wasn't laughing. His dad went on to say, "Benji isn't related to us by blood, but he and Judy are family."_

 _"But-" Raiden started to argue._

 _Yuri then went on to say, "Uncle Karol and Aunt Rita aren't actually your relatives. But they're family, right?"_

 _"Y-yeah," Raiden muttered._

 _"So Judy and Benji are family too," his dad told him._

 _"Aww, I never thought I would hear something so sweet come out of Yuri," Judith suddenly said. She had just come out of Benji's room._

 _"Is Benji okay?" Estelle asked._

 _"He'll be fine, Benji is a tough boy," Judith told her._

 _Raiden turned from his dad and looked at Judith. "Judy, who is Benji's dad?" He asked her. If they all knew who Benji's dad was, then maybe the rumors would stop._

 _"Oh, I haven't a clue who Benji's father is," Judith said so causally. For some reason that answer flustered his mother._

/~/~/

Raiden was waiting outside a shop for his sister and Rune. Before they would continue on, they would need a few more supplies so they would make it to Dahngrest. Raiden was still kicking himself for what he said to Benji. Matthias was with him.

"So are you going to tell me I'm just the worst?" Raiden finally asked him. He had been waiting for it. Why else would Matthias have waited with him?

"It wasn't the best thing to say," Matthias started to say. "But you were saying that on behalf of Elena, right? He didn't have to be cold to her."

"I wasn't just saying that for her," Raiden said.

"Even I could tell that the two of you aren't close," Matthias said. "You're just going to disappoint yourself."

It was true. Raiden and Benji had barely talked even when they had lived together. His mother and sister would go to visit Benji at the academy, and Raiden would stay behind. He would say it was so the bullies wouldn't pick on Rune while he was gone. Had Raiden really not cared to see Benji? "I guess I thought it'd be different since we finally had something in common," Raiden muttered. Although, what would that have changed? Was he really expecting that they would talk about their dead parents?

As Raiden looked up, he happened to see someone familiar walking by. A girl with long dark, wavy hair and two dagger behind her back. "Shea?" Raiden called out and even got up.

The girl seemed startled to hear her name and had turned. She recognized him. "Oh, Raiden was it?"

"Yeah, I didn't think I'd run into you here of all places. What brings you to Heilord?" When they had been in Aurnion, he had sort of been hoping they'd run into her. But it was a big city.

Before Shea could answer, Matthias exclaimed, "Lady Sabeline. Where is your escort? You shouldn't be this close to the guild's territory without proper protection." And Shea was motioning for him to be quiet.

Raiden just looked confused between the two. "Lady?" He said.

Matthias rolled his eyes, the one that was visible anyway. "Of course you wouldn't know who this is. This is Lady Ophelia Yvette Sabeline. The oldest daughter of Lord Sabeline, the head of the council and one of the Empress' trusted advisers."

"You're a noble," Raiden looked at Shea in surprise. She was a high ranking one to boot. She certainly didn't act or look like one. But he supposed that explained how she got the knight's permission to be in Dwemer Ruins.

Shea gave a tired sigh. "Yes, and I'm trying to go around without people knowing who I am," she said and gave a sharp look to Matthias.

"So that's why you told me you name was Shea rather than Ophelia," Raiden said.

"You can't get as much done if people know you're a noble," Shea said.

"That doesn't explain what you're doing in such a dangerous place," Matthias said.

"Dude, Heilord isn't that dangerous," Raiden told him.

"Clearly you don't understand what's at stake," Matthias argued. "The Empire and the Guilds are on the verge of war. If the guilds were to do something to Lord Sabeline's daughter then that could spark a war.

"And that's why I'm not going by that name," Shea said and looked at Matthias with the same sharp look. "So please stop talking about the Sabeline family."

Matthias seemed to finally catch on. "Oh, yes, of course," he muttered.

Just then, Raiden could hear Sable barking. He turned to see Rune and Elena with their supplies. But Elena looked like she may have just bought more books which caused Raiden to groan a bit. Rune looked a bit started to see Shea. "Y-you that girl from before," the mage said. It was clear that he didn't think they would have met her again.

Elena just looked bored. "Are we ready to go now?" She asked.

"Elena, there isn't a ship that's scheduled to leave anytime soon," Matthias said.

Raiden just blinked at Matthias. "What's this about a ship?" He asked. "We're walking." There were no ships that would take them to a port near Dahngrest. Besides, it was cheaper and quicker just to walk.

"You must not know your geography," Matthias started to say in a demeaning tone. "You can't walk to Aurnion from Heilord."

Raiden and the others just looked at Matthias. Rune was the one who pointed out, a bit sheepishly, "But we're going to Dahngrest."

It slowly registered to Matthias. "The guild city. Why on earth are you going to those savages?"

Raiden didn't like what he said. But he was more annoyed with the fact that Matthias didn't know what their plans had been. There was no way Flynn would have just sent his son without telling him about their plans. That made Raiden wondered if Matthias even knew why they were on this journey to begin with.

Elena, on the other hand, didn't let that comment slip. "Our father was a guild member," she said darkly.

Matthias tried to recover from that. "I-I meant no offense, but we're all citizens of the Empire. We can't just go to the guilds territory."

"Your father gave us a letter so we could pass the boarder," Rune pointed out.

Matthias was silent on that and that gave them the answer they had been wondering about. "Flynn didn't send you, did he?" Raiden asked already knowing the answer.

"Fine," Matthias spat out. "He didn't send me, I decided to do this mission on my own."

"Unless you're a captain, you can't just leave on whatever mission you like or make something into a mission," Elena said.

Matthias was sweating. Raiden could tell that he was trying to come up with something plausible. But before he could, they could hear someone shouting, "Lord Matthias."

It was some knights starting to make their way toward them. "Your father was worried sick about you," one of the knights called after him.

Matthias' face started turning red. Before the knights got any closer, he suddenly took off running. The knights were calling more and so was Raiden.

Raiden was quicker than the knights and quickly out ran them. He couldn't just leave Matthias like this. Plus he was worried why he would run from the knights.

He never would have guessed that Matthias was agile and might have been slightly faster than Raiden. He almost missed it as Matthias hopped on some boxes and vaulted over the city wall. _You've got to be kidding me,_ Raiden complained as he followed suit less gracefully.

Raiden just climbed the boxes and jumped up to the wall, but only managed to just barely catch the top of the wall. Raiden cursed that he took his father's heavier swords since he had to use a lot of strength just to pull himself up high enough so he could hike his leg up to help him on top of the wall.

He was almost over it when he could hear someone shouting, "Kid, get down from there right now. You need a permit to cross into guild territory."

 _Thanks Matthias, I'm going to get into trouble because of you,_ Raiden thought bitterly as he gave one big heave to get over the wall.

He was able to get on top, but he used too much and didn't get his balance. So he fell on the other side of the wall. It was a lot lower on the other side. Thankfully he landed right on his rear and nothing broke. But he didn't have time to completely assess what could have happened. The knights were likely going to look for him. And he was at least going to have Matthias with him to get into trouble with.

Of course he wasn't sure where Matthias was now. So he just took off running ahead. Surely Matthias wasn't that much further.

In just a few minutes, Raiden ran past a tree and failed to see that there wasn't a path before him. He tumbled down the small hill and landed on his back this time. He let out a painfully noise.

When he looked, he indirectly found Matthias sitting under the tree Raiden passed. His head was down and he was hugging his knees to his chest. Raiden's fall hadn't startled him surprisingly.

Matthias stayed still and said to Raiden, "You here to make fun of me?" He asked.

Raiden got up and dusted himself off. "The only thing I want to do it kick you for making me chase after you. But what in the world was that all about?"

"My parents must have sent them to bring me back," Matthias said without looking at him.

Raiden gave a sigh. It was starting to make sense. "You're not actually a knight, are you?"

He saw Matthias grip his sleeve. "I could be. I want to be a knight," he muttered. "But my mother thinks it's far too dangerous. After…" He stopped himself. His face was still red. Raiden remembered Matthias' mother. Raiden's father commented many times, even to Flynn, that she coddled her son far too much. Of course she wouldn't want her delicate son to join the knights.

"Even your dad?" Raiden asked. "He always talked about you becoming a knight too." Surely Flynn wouldn't have denied his son his dream.

"Anytime I ask him if I can join the knight's academy, he always says he'll talk with mother about it. But he's never home," Matthias said.

"He probably doesn't want you caught up with the conflicts," Raiden offered. Raiden's own father was gone for periods of time for guild jobs, but when Yuri was home, he had made every moment count with his family. But that was during a time of peace. It probably would have been different if he were still alive.

"I know okay," Matthias snapped. "I'm a spoiled brat that doesn't understand the situation."

"Dude, I didn't say that," Raiden defended. But someone had said that to Matthias.

Matthias stood up and had that same determination in his eyes like they did when they were kids. "I can become a knight, I know I can," he said. "I want to serve my country and its people."

Raiden just couldn't believe that Flynn wouldn't let his son become a knight. "Then let's show him Matthias," Raiden told him. "Come with us to Dahngrest."

Matthias wavered a bit hearing that. "Why are you going to Dahngrest?" He asked.

"I'm looking for the guy that killed my dad," Raiden answered. "I heard that it was someone that likely impersonated a knight to kill him. Your dad didn't know much about that, so I'm going to ask my Uncle Karol what he knows."

The boy thought about for a moment. Then he held his hand out to Raiden. "Very well, I can't let something like that stand. I will do everything I can to help."

Raiden gave a smile. He was hoping with the secret out that Matthias might loosen up a bit. But he accepted the hand and they shook on it. Then Matthias added," Of course I will also not stand for vigilantism from you."

"It's not like we really stood a chance against them to begin with," Raiden told him.

It wasn't long after that Raiden heard a familiar barking. It was then followed with Elena, Rune, and even Shea.

"I guess that actually worked out for us since we didn't have a boarder pass for Matthias," Rune lightly joked.

"So you really are an wannabe knight," Elena commented.

"I will be continuing this journey with you and prove that I'm worthy to be a knight," Matthias told her.

Elena just opened a book and said. "Over used plot, minus five points," she muttered.

Raiden ignored his sister and just looked at Shea. He really hadn't been expecting to see her. "Sorry, didn't mean to drag you into this," he told her. "Did you have to use my boarder pass?"

"No I had my own," she answered. "I was on my way to Dahngrest anyway. So I thought it would be more fun traveling with a group."

Raiden couldn't help but grin. He wasn't sure why, but he was glad he would be able to travel with Shae.

Next stop Dahngrest.

/~/~/

 **Skit: Noble Customs**

 **Raiden** : So are you and Shea friends or something?

 **Matthias** : Of course not. I still aspire to be a knight, so I wouldn't dream of having such a friendly relationship with a woman of her noble status. But it just seems so odd to see her so far from the capital.

 **Raiden** : Is it really? Rune and I first met her in some ruins.

 **Matthias** : Well it would be strange for any noble. But the Sabeline family still follow old practices, like members aren't introduced to noble society until they become thirteen. That's when I first meet her. So I thought they must follow more of the Empire's old customs. You rarely see any of the Sabeline women.

 **Raiden** : Do you think she ran away from home?

 **Matthias** : …Maybe. If so, her father may be keeping quiet about it. The knights we passed barely batted an eye at her.

 **Raiden** : Well you did just say they practiced the old ways. So none of the knights would probably know what she looks like. If you're so curious, why don't you just ask her.

 **Matthias** : You cannot just ask a noble lady what they're up to. It's unbecoming. I will figure this out though.

 **Raiden** : And how is that any better?

/~/~/

"Just leave me here to die," Oanez companied as she fell to the ground. They had been walking for hours in the forest and Oanez was done walking.

"I thought being eaten by monsters wasn't on your list," Yin complained. Oanez was annoyed that Yin hadn't even broken a sweat despite all the clothes she was wearing.

"It's preferable than walking anymore," Oanez. "That stupid Ray Ray, he should have prepared transportation for us so we can get to Dahngrest sooner."

She then felt Yin kick her in the rear. "And who's fault is that?" The other woman snapped. "We would have back at Heilord. But no, you were the one who decided to walk and take in the nature."

Oanez was rubbing the spot where her companion kicked her. "Come on, even you could have seen that that guy was at least a cutthroat," Oanez told her. "He clearly thought he could have his way with two women."

"Of course I knew," Yin said. "But you don't seriously think I would have lost to him?"

"What? He was cute. I didn't want to temptation of letting him kill me," Oanez said. That earned her another kick from Yin.

While giving her companion an annoyed look, Oanez said, "Besides, I got to figure out that we really are being followed." Ever since they left Aurnion, she had this feeling that someone was tailing them. But they had been traveling with a group of commoners, so it was hard to tell if they were the target or if Oanez was just feeling claustrophobic because of all the people.

Now that they were alone in the woods, it was clear that they were the target. Oanez hadn't seen the person, it was just a feeling. Whoever it was, they were good at their job. Probably better than anyone in Raymond's services.

Yin went on full alert. "I can take them out," she said.

"Don't," Oanez said. It was clear their little stalker was sent by the Empire. If they find out their little spy was killed by them, those hothead men might do something stupid to get even.

Oanez got up and looked up at a tree where she was sure the little spy was hiding. Then she smiled at them. Though she couldn't see them, Oanez was sure that it caused them to flinch a bit. "Besides, I like games of cat and mouse. Let's find out who's really the cat."

Then she looked up at the sky. Now it was time to put a little stress on the little stalker. "We best find some shelter soon," Oanez said. "You can practically smell the big storm that's coming." And the little stalker will lose their trail because they couldn't risk seeking shelter close to them. After the rain came, their trail will be covered up. Of course the stalker had to know they were heading to Dahngrest. So Oanez intended to circle around so she and Yin were behind the stalker. Maybe they would be able to learn the identity.


	10. Chapter 10

Sorry this took so long. I've been dealing with being sick, school, and work. And in that time I decided to rebrand myself. I've decided to put a hold on my Zestiria fic since out of the three stories I've been working on, I have not devoted a lot of love and time to. So I'm going to focus on this one and the Tales of Danganronpa fic and I'll resume Zestiria once Danganronpa is done. Hopefully I will come back to that one with a better story. Anyway

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Circus Anarchy**

They all traveled a few hours in the forest by the time the clouds started getting dark. A storm was coming. When it first started getting dark, Shea volunteered to scout ahead and look for some shelter.

Raiden and the others stumbled to an old building that looked like it had been left abandon for some time. They didn't venture too far into the building so Shea could still easy find them.

"This may have been one of the Empire and Guild's attempts to make a rest stop," Elena commented.

"Why in the world would they build something like this in the middle of the woods?" Matthias asked.

"This was back when relations still good," Elena began to explain, but was using her, "I can't believe you idiots don't know this" tone. It really made her sound like Aunt Rita. "To make it easier for people to travel between Dahngrest and Heliord, they set up these so people could rest in comfort rather than camping out. It would be better to protect people too. But they barely got it finished before monster's attack and the project was abandoned."

"Nowadays monsters avoid large human settlements," Rune commented. "This must have been too small to discourage any monsters."

"But why wouldn't they have just done more to keep monster away?" Matthias asked.

Elena just shrugged. "Who knows, maybe that's when the Empire started pointing fingers at the guilds."

"It's a shame that this didn't work out," Rune commented. "This would have been the best route to Dahngrest. The sea route can take over a week, and that's if the weather is good."

Raiden examined the structure. While there some holes in the roof, it was still a sturdy structure with stone walls. It was better than camping out in the storm. "Unless Shea finds something else, I think we'll be staying here for the night," Raiden decided.

"Are you crazy?" Matthias said. "This place was overrun by monsters."

"If you have a better idea then say it," Elena said as she started making her way to the building.

While it had been Raiden's idea, he didn't want anyone walking in thinking it was safe. He wanted to cautiously check to make sure there weren't any dangerous monsters. "Let's at least check it out," he said as he quickly caught up with his sister. Raiden gently grabbed her shoulder. "Can you at least wait for us to go in a group and not by yourself."

Elena rolled her eyes at him. "Well you all were taking your sweet time. Besides, what's the worst that can happen to me?"

Raiden looked at his little sister. He never would have thought that her ability to heal herself would cause her be reckless.

The four of them searched the main room There were only a few small monsters that scattered as soon as they got near. Raiden walked up to the second floor to check and he could hear that it started to rain.

It was light at first. Raiden looked out a broken window and saw that it became dark much quicker. It was probably going to get worse. And Shea was still out there.

Raiden quickly went down the stairs and went to the door. But he saw that Shea was just walking in the shelter. She was wringing her ends of her clothes from the rain. "I was a little worried when it started raining that I wouldn't be able find you all again," she said causally.

"Did you find any other shelter up ahead?" Matthias asked.

Shea shook her head. "This will probably be the safest place tonight. The storm is going to only get worse," she reported.

Matthias looked a bit discouraged and Rune did as well.

"Come, let's get a fire started," Elena interrupted. "I'm cold and hungry."

"Fine," Raiden said with a sigh. "I saw some wood in the corner we could use."

/~/~/

 **Skit: Spoiler**

 **Elena** reading: …

 **Matthias** : Oh Miss Elena, what are you reading?

 **Elena** looking annoyed: Can't you see I don't want to talk? Also didn't I tell you to cut that "miss" crap.

 **Matthias** : I see that you're reading the "Dragon Knight Tales". That's book three in the series, right? I'm impressed, you just bought it yesterday and you're almost halfway done it with.

 **Elena** started: You've read the whole series?

 **Matthias** : I own all ten books. You might think it's silly, but I really admire the character Emilio. I want to be a knight just like him.

 **Elena** a little sheepishly: …Emilio is fine, but he's a bit annoying to me. I really like his Master. She's badass.

 **Matthias** : I felt the same way when I read book three. But you might change your mind by the end when his Master betrays him in the end by trying to steal his soul because she's really one of the Soul Eaters. He has so much growth afterwards.

 **Elena** looking horrified. Her face turns dark and she stomps away.

 **Matthias** startled: Elena?

 **Raiden** and **Rune** appear.

 **Rune** looking scared: W-what did you say to Elena? I've never seen her look so scary.

 **Raiden** : I think he spoiled the story ending for her.

 **Matthias** : Oh my bad, I never even thought about that.

 **Raiden** : I'd sleep with one eye open if I were you. My sister takes her reading as a sacred thing…and you've ruined it for her.

 **Matthias** getting flustered: W-what should I do to make it up to her?

 **Raiden** : I've never witnessed anyone spoiling a book to Elena.

 **Rune** looking sad: I doubt he'd make it through the night.

 **Raiden** and Rune slowly walks away.

 **Matthias** looking more scared: W-wait, what should I do?

/~/~/

They made a small fire and were able to make a decent soup. They weren't able to have much conversation because of how loud the storm was. The building seemed to sway and creak under the storm.

"You would think we would have been warned about this storm," Matthias commented during a quiet moment.

"I could have told you that, but some idiot just had to run away from the knights," Elena said without looking up from her book.

Matthias was getting flustered, but Raiden said, "Well you didn't say anything." He claimed that as a victory since his sister made no follow up comment.

Shea looked between the Lowell sibling. She clearly wasn't used to the way they bickered. Raiden wondered if she thought they were really fighting. Shea went to change the subject. "Elena, you must really like books, I don't think you've really put that book down. Is it good?"

Raiden wasn't surprised that his sister didn't respond. But he was sure that Elena heard Shea just fine and just chose not to respond. "My sister is an introverted bookworm," Raiden began to explain. "I'm sure she'd fine boring books entertaining."

"At least more interesting than you," Elena commented.

"I knew you were listening," Raiden called out with a smile on his face. When Elena didn't say anything, he took it as another win.

Just then there was a loud crashing sound. All of them flinched. It was lighting that wasn't far from them.

"This is going to hold, right?" Rune asked nervously looking up at their roof.

"Too late to be wondering that," Elena commented.

"We'll at least be safer here than out there," Raiden reassured his friend.

But then there was another crashing sound, and it didn't sound like it was from the storm. Both Rune and Matthias jumped at the noise. Raiden felt a little worried because it sounded like it was inside the building.

"Y-you don't think this place is falling in, do you?" Matthias commented, trying to hide his worry.

"It was probably just an animal or monster escaping the storm," Elena rolled her eyes.

"We should still check just to be sure," Shea suggested as she stood up.

"Even if there isn't anything, it's still too dangerous for you Lady O-I mean Shea," Matthias said and was quick to correct himself.

"Does that mean you're volunteering?" Shea asked.

"Well…" Matthias started to say. He seemed to be struggling to come with his knightly response.

"I'll come with you," Raiden offered as he quickly got up. If it was monster that caused that that noise, he didn't want anyone to face it alone.

"Very well," Matthias said matter a factly. He got up and strolled over to the stairs like he hadn't been scared to go a moment ago. Raiden didn't say anything and just headed upstairs with him.

With the storm raging outside, they couldn't hear how the stairs creak. There was still a little bit of light coming from below. Raiden could feel the rain coming through the holes in the roof.

It was still hard to hear, so it was hard to tell if there was a monster up here. Raiden took a few steps forward to see if that startled anything. "You don't think there's really a monster up here, do you?" Raiden was able to hear Matthias ask. He sounded so scared, he almost sounded like Rune.

"It's better to check then to spend the night worrying," Raiden told him. "Besides, wouldn't this be the best time to show Shea how brave you are. Maybe you'd be able to impress her."

"I'm not doing this to impress anyone," Matthias said sounding annoyed. "As an aspiring knight, it is my duty to protect a noble lady like Shea. The same goes for Elena and, to some extent, you since you are Lady Estellies' children."

Raiden couldn't help but roll his eyes. Of course Matthias couldn't see him doing that. "Well I wouldn't worry about Shea, she's pretty good in a fight," Raiden said. He chose to ignore that last thing he said.

"By the way, how do you know Shea?" Matthias asked. "It's still hard to believe that she's out and posing as a commoner. But to think she's done this before…"

"Rune and I ran into her near Arie Hallow," Raiden told him. "She was gathering some herbs for medicine."

"It just doesn't make any sense," Raiden heard Matthias mutter. "She's the daughter of a powerful family of the Empire. Why would be out that far out of the city?"

 _And in old ruins,_ Raiden thought briefly. "Again, you can always ask her," Raiden told him.

Matthias started repeating that he couldn't do that, but Raiden's attention was caught hearing something scurrying. At that, Raiden rested a hand on one of his father's swords and that made Matthias stop talking. _It's probably just a small monster._ Raiden told himself as his foot hit something. He figured it was a piece of wood or something and was going to pick it up. He was going to throw it to get the creature to come out of hiding.

Suddenly felt something hit him in the chest and knocking him back. He heard Matthais calling out his name as his back hit the floor, but it gave out and he felt himself falling more.

He was back on the first floor and lost his breath. He could hear Rune calling him. Raiden quickly sat up, despite the pain in his chest. Raiden had landed just inches from the fire and his friends. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see that Matthias had hurried down the stairs but stopped. He then saw what had hit him.

A man jumped from the hole Raiden had created. He wasn't much taller than Raiden, but he wore a big top hat and white cloak with a high collar that were soaked from the rain. The man looked up at them and Raiden could see that he had short green hair with white bangs, red eyes, and a tear drop tattoo under his right eye. The man took his top hat off and bowed. When he did that, they could see that he had pointed ears. _He's a kritya._ Raiden realized. But he didn't see the man's antenna. Only those "things" that Raiden always thought looked like feathers underneath the antennas.

"Salutation pups," the man said. He straightened up, but he had a disturbing smile. He placed the hat on his head and started twirling a cane he was holding. "My, you pups sure picked a bad time to camp out."

"What's it to you?" Raiden said as he finally got back up to his feet. He then heard Sable growling at the man. The dog may not have been as smart as Repede, but she did still have good instincts.

The kritya was now holding the cane in both of his gloved hands. "I'm just concerned because there could be not telling what could happen to a bunch of pups like you. I mean, you could all just suddenly disappear and never be found. Wouldn't your mommies and daddies be so sad?"

"Just who are you and what do you want?" Shea demanded.

"Who am I?" The kritya asked, but really seemed to be asking himself that. "I guess I'll just go by Henry. I've always liked the name."

Raiden wondered if this man really didn't know his name. "But what do you want?" Raiden repeated.

"Well of course I'm here to kill all of you," the man said in such a causal way and with a smile that it took Raiden a few seconds to register his words.

"W-what?" Rune stuttered and fell backwards.

Shea pulled out her daggers. "Your outnumbered," she said. "Do you really think you could take all of us?"

"I certainly would like the try," Henry said with a smile as he held his cane out. "It's no fun at all if there isn't a challenge." He didn't wait and started moving toward them.

Shea didn't hesitate like the rest of them and quickly moved in front of Raiden. She caught the kritya's cane with her two daggers. Henry had a smile on his face.

Before he had a chance to do anything, Elena ran up to the kritya and went for a punch in his blind spot. But the kritya quickly flicked his wrist so that his wet cap so suddenly across Elena's face that it threw her off balance and she almost fell on Shea.

Shea jumped back and Elena recovered quick enough. She was still in range of the kritya and Raiden drew one of his to swipe at him. He didn't really think, but he wasn't planning to actually hit Henry. He just wanted him away from Elena.

There was a flicker of interest in the kritya's eyes looking at the swords. Henry redirected the sword's arc with his back of his hand and short his arm so it snaked around Raiden's sword arm. The kritya gave a giggle as he seemed to admire the sword and it made Raiden freeze up.

"Huh, what's this? What's this?" Henry asked with amusement. "I know this blade. I know everything that cuts me."

There was a shiver that went down Raiden. But he knew what he meant by that. "You knew my dad?" Raiden just blurted out.

"Of course, of course," the kritya said with a giggle at the end. "He left a nasty scar on me a several years ago. I always wanted to repay him."

The kritya wasn't looking at Raiden, but the sword. So Raiden released the blade, and while the kritya's eyes were on it, he used his free arm to punch him in the face. Raiden used speed over power and it was only enough to faze him so he could get out of his grasp.

When he was out of arm's length, Raiden drew his other blade. But he froze again when he heard the kritya giggle. "So the pups do have some teeth," the kritya teased with a big crazy smile. "I guess I'll just have to pay that man back by taking it out on his pups since he's dead in the ground."

 _He's crazy,_ Raiden thought. Just what was wrong with this guy. Raiden could believe that his dad had a run in with someone like this. His parents had told him stories before. But what was with this guy?

"Raiden," he heard Shea shout.

The kritya was coming toward Raiden again. Henry was wide open. Raiden could have easily attacked. Yet he choked. The thought of actually injuring him made Raiden stop. He just stood still as Henry grabbed Raiden by the throat.

He was even able to lift Raiden of the ground. And as Raiden was slowly suffocating, he could hear the kritya laughing. "How I would love to see that man's face? Would he look like you right now?"

It was growing even darker when Raiden could hear a familiar voice shout, "Leave them alone."

The next thing Raiden knew was that he fell to the ground. As he was caught his breath, he noticed there was a severed arm in front of him. Raiden jumped and quickly looked up. And he saw Paul standing almost in front of him.

Paul as soaking wet and had his broad sword out with some blood already on it. Henry still had his arm extended like he was still choking Raiden. He seemed to just realize that he no longer had a hand. Yet he just looked slightly annoyed as he moved his arm to look at his nub that was leaking blood. "Oh, not again," he said sounding irritated.

"That's not the noise you should be making," Raiden could hear Matthias shout.

Raiden quickly got up and grabbed the sword he dropped. "Paul," he said. He had so many questions, but he never felt happier to see Paul before.

"Stay back kids," Paul warned.

"Hmm, do we know each other?" Henry causally asks why he tied a tourniquet on. "Although I suppose I'll need to know you know since your another person that's made me lose a limb."

"I've just heard the rumors," Paul said darkly. "A kritya dressed in white and with a tattoo of a tear on his face. You're a part of Circus Anarchy."

Henry smiled bigger and then stuck out his tongue. There was a tattoo of clowns face with an A on the forehead on it. Just who gets their tongues tattooed?

"If you want my name, just know me as Paul from Brave Vesperia," Paul said as swung his sword at the kritya.

Henry dodged it and didn't even attempt to block it with his cane. No doubt Paul would be able to slice through. "Another person from Brave Vesperia, huh," he giggled. "Will score with Brave Vesperia and Circus Anarchy even out, or will I get another kill under my belt?"

Suddenly Elena had dashed toward the kritya. Raiden caught a glimpse of her eyes; there was hatred in those eyes. "Don't," Paul warned.

But it was too late. When Elena went for a punch, Henry used his cane so Elena's extended arm wrapped around it. And with just one arm and a kick, Henry was able to twist the cane so Elene's arm was now bent in a way it shouldn't. And it had made an awful sound that the storm couldn't hide.

She didn't cry out in pain, but there were tears in her eyes. Sable immediately charged at the man that hurt her master and dug her fangs into his leg. But the kritya just gave a swift kick to the dog's side. Sable yelped and was down.

Henry still had Elena's broken wrapped around his cane. "My, my," Henry muttered. "It's like looking at a mirror. We almost look the same."

Elena flinched hearing that.

"Release her," Matthias suddenly shouted. He had his staff out and was about to strike at the kritya. His attack did free Elena, but not the way Matthias had intended. Henry released her from his cane and used it to vault Matthias above him and into the wall.

Raiden quickly ran over to get his sister while Paul swung his broad sword at Henry. It barely grazed him and started laughing again.

Henry started giggling again. "This has been quite fun, but my time has come for me to bid adieu and tell my boss what I've found," the kritya said as he put his cane under his armpit and took off his hat as he gave a bow. "Let's do this some other time pups." He put his hat back on and then swung his cloak around himself so that he was fully covered. The cloak then fell to the ground, and the kritya known as Henry was nowhere to be seen.

Raiden carefully gripped his sister in case he was still there. "You kids stay in here," Paul ordered as he quickly ran back out into the storm to make sure that he wasn't still here. Although Raiden wouldn't believe that Henry would go back out in this storm.

"Elena," Raiden started to say as he looked down at her. He flinched when he looked back at her arm bent backwards.

"I'll be fine, but Sable" Elena muttered as she looked over at her dog. Sable was hurt, but she was fine. She started to move toward her, maybe even to heal her before herself.

Shea hurried over. "We need to set this," she said sternly.

"That's right," Raiden agreed. "Even if you use healing artes, we'll have to re-break it if it's not right."

Elena looked uneasy. But she moved so that Shea could help. Raiden was glad Shea looked like she knew what she was doing. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to cause his sister pain trying to put her arm back in place.

Shea carefully took Elena's arm and Raiden glanced over at Matthias who was slowly started moving. So he was fine. _But Rune,_ Raiden suddenly realized that he hadn't even heard him. He looked all around, and found his friend in the same spot before Henry even showed up. The young mage was trembling as he looked at the spot Henry had been.

Rune flinched when Raiden gripped his shoulder to get his attention. "Raiden," Rune cried out. "That guy, he…And I…what just happened?" He was still terrified and if Raiden was honest, he was too. They both had heard their parents' stories of fighting crazy people. But they didn't feel real. They were just exaggerated characters their parents' add to make the story more interesting. But now they seem more like hard facts.

"Hey, we're okay," Raiden reassured. His friend needed to see him being calm even if he didn't really feel it. It was still so hard to believe. They had just fought someone from Circus Anarchy. And if Paul hadn't showed up-

Suddenly Elena gave a small cry and Raiden looked over to see that Shea had straightened her arm was now tying a stick to her arm to keep it still. Raiden wondered Shea and Matthias would buy that her healing arts would heal her arm like new by the morning. It took time for magic to mend bones without blastia. But that rule didn't apply to Elena.

Paul then returned, maybe he worried hearing Elena's cries. But he relaxed slightly seeing that they were all alight. "He seems to be gone," Paul reported.

"Thanks Paul, I don't know what we would have done without you," Raiden told him. Very quickly Paul crossed the room to Raiden roughly grabbed the top of his head.

"And just what in all of Terca Lumireis did you think you were doing?" Paul demanded.

Raiden hadn't even considered that his mother and Aunt Rita would have sent Paul to get them. "Do you have any idea how worried they were about you?" Paul snapped.

He wasn't sure how he should respond. Rune was silent as well. Seeing their response, Paul let an exhausted sigh. "Let's just focus on getting to Dahngrest when this storm passes."

No doubt Paul was going to take them to Uncle Karol and Raiden was worried that meant their journey was at an end. They had been planning on talking to Karol anyway. But with Paul there, he would make them go home. Raiden had thought with Uncle Karol that they could avoid that. After all, Flynn let them go on. If he did, then it shouldn't be that hard to convince Karol to let them go on their own.

Raiden went back to Elena. Shea had put her arm in a sling and Elena was already healing her dog. "How are you feeling?" Raiden asked his sister.

She didn't look up from Sable. Raiden took that as a good sign.

"So who are you?" Matthias asked hesitantly. "I know you said you were from Brave Vesperia, but…" Matthias was still shaken after what happened. He wasn't about to trust some new person.

"Paul's family," Raiden told him. That would at least be enough to ease Matthias.

Shea stood up and gave a small bow. "Thank you sir," she said.

Paul looked a bit embarrassed. But he then looked at Raiden and gave him an irritated look. "I can't believe you dragged more kids into this," he muttered. He ran his hand through his wet hair. "Look I'm too tired from chasing you all. Let's save this for in the morning."

Raiden gave a sigh. "Fine," Raiden submitted. That would at least give him more time to think of something to do to convince Paul to let them continue. At least they would still be heading to Dahngrest. Raiden would get a chance to talk with Karol.

"Elena, you okay kid?" Paul asked her as her healing artes finished and Sable got up to give a happy bark.

Elena just looked at Paul out of the corner of her eye. "Yeah…" she muttered out. But slowly she started to say "T-thanks…"

There was a faint relieved smile on Paul's face. "I'm just glad all of you are okay," he said.


	11. Chapter 11

Sorry for the late post. But I wanted to get this chapter out before 2019 was over. So here is it and hopefully I can keep a better upload schedule for 2020!

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Brave Vesperia**

 _Shortly after Raiden had turned twelve, his father returned early from a guild job. They hadn't been expecting him for another week at least. So it was a happy surprise to have him home. Raiden had run to greet him since he'd been playing with Rune and a few of the other kids when he heard his dad was home. But Raiden stopped in the doorway when he saw Yuri._

 _His dad was in their living room with his shirt off and his mother worrying over him. There were a lot of nasty bruises and Estelle couldn't do much for them. Raiden wondered what he looked like before his mother started healing his dad. "Seriously Estelle, they'll be fine in a few days," Yuri tried to tell her. But that didn't stop her from using another healing spell on him in case there was internal damage._

 _"Karol must have thought differently if you're home this soon," Estelle said sharply. "There is no way you could have finished that job this quickly."_

 _"Dad," Raiden finally spoke up and took a few steps inside the house. "Did…did you lose a fight?" He went on to say. His dad was the strongest person he knew. He never thought of his dad losing to anyone. It seemed like such a strange concept._

 _Apparently they hadn't heard Raiden come in the way they seemed surprised to see him. Yuri motioned for Raiden to come over. And when Raiden was in arms reach, Yuri ruffled his hair affectionately._

 _"I'm fine," Yuri told them._ " _It was just some clown who got the worst end of the fight."_

 _Raiden could believe that the other guy would look a lot worse than his dad. But what his dad said really confused him. "You fought a clown?" He was picturing his dad fighting an actual circus clown._

 _"Might as well have been," Yuri told him. "The guy certainly thought of himself as one."_

 _"Well you need to be more careful," Estelle scolded. "I hate to tell you this, but you're not as young as you used to be."_

 _Yuri had a smirk on his face when he replied, "Not an old man yet."_

/~/~/

The storm ended shortly before morning finally came. But sleep didn't come easily to them. Paul stood watch for most of the night and every time Raiden closed his eyes, he kept seeing Henry bending his sister's arm in that unnatural way. Or even the creepy way he looked after seeing his own hand being cut off.

He kept going over what Henry had said. His father apparently fought him before. Raiden searched his memories from when his father was still alive and the times he came home. He obviously wouldn't have told them the full extent. But Raiden was remembering that day his dad came home early with all those bruises. A cane could have caused those if Raiden was remembering right.

Raiden was sure he was recalling the conversation right. He was sure his dad would refer Henry as a clown. Then he thought about what else Henry had said. " _Will the score with Brave Vesperia and Circus Anarchy even out, or will I get another kill under my belt?"_ Did he mean he mean that he killed someone in Brave Vesperia? And was that his dad? There were only two people from Brave Vesperia who are gone; Judith and Raiden's dad. Did that mean he killed one of them? Raiden couldn't imagine either of them losing.

Then who did they lose to that kept them from ever coming home again?

"Come on kids," Paul suddenly announced. Raiden had quickly sat up, mainly because it had startled him. The others got up too. It looks like no one else got any sleep. "We're not wasting any time and getting to Dahngrest before nightfall."

It wouldn't take them long at all to get ready. Before going to sleep, everyone had put their stuff together in case they needed to make a run for it. Raiden quickly went over to his sister who was scratching behind Sable's ear. Thankfully the dog made a full recovery with Elena's healing. Raiden didn't want to thank what his sister would do if she lost the dog.

"How's your arm?" Raiden asked.

Elena just rolled her eyes at him. A way of saying, "Of course it's fine. Why wouldn't it be?" Raiden was relieved to get that look from her.

"Maybe by the time we reach the city it'll be fine to take it out of the sling," Raiden suggested. His sister jus nodded. A day seemed reasonable enough for everyone to think a broken arm could heal with healing artes. Elena was Estellise's daughter, so no one would think anything different.

His sister just nodded and got up.

"So I heard from the knights in Heilord that you ran away with Flynn's son," Paul said looking at Matthias.

"More like he ran away and we had to chase after him," Raiden muttered.

"So who's this girl? Who else did you drag into this?" Paul asked looking at Shea.

Raiden wasn't sure what they should say. Paul wouldn't do or say anything if he knew Shea was a noble other than just take them straight back to Heilord rather than Dahngrest. He wouldn't risk it.

"I'm just a merchant's daughter," Shea lied, which startled Raiden. She said it so convincingly too. "Trade's so poor between the Guilds and Empire, I'm just going to the city to acquire an item for my father."

Shea came up that cover story fast. Raiden wondered if she figured the same thing if he knew her real identity.

Paul let out a frustrated sigh. "So you plan on smuggling something from Dahngrest into Heilord."

"It's not as bad as you make it sound," Shea said matter of factly.

The older guild member just shook his head. He looked at Raiden again. "You really know how to attract trouble."

/~/~/

Skit: Guilds' Appearance 

**Matthias** : Raiden, how well do you know this Paul character?

 **Raiden** : What do you mean? I've known him my whole life.

 **Matthias** : I figured that. He's part of Brave Vesperia. It's just that he seems like he might actually bring trouble. He really looks like some kind of vagabond.

 **Raiden** : I've never really seen Paul being trouble.

 **Rune** : Paul's the first guild member you've, isn't he?

 **Matthias** : …

 **Raiden** : Oh I see, you were somehow intimidated by Paul's appearance.

 **Rune** : Paul doesn't even look that scary…

 **Matthias** looking embarrassed: C-come on. He just suddenly appears in the middle of a storm and even cut off a man's arm. How else am I supposed to react to a stranger?

 **Raiden** : I think you're just over reacting.

 **Elena** walking by: If you're startled by Paul then you're really going to have a hard time in Dahngrest. *Walks away.

 **Rune** : She's right. There are a lot scary guild members. Pretty much everyone in the Hunting Blades startle me just by looking at them.

 **Matthias** looking nervous: There are people that look sketchier then the man we're traveling with?

 **Raiden** : It's not as bad as Rune is making it out to be. But if you're that worried about it, just look at is as training. If you're going to be a knight you're going to have to deal with people that don't look like nobles. I'm sure most people knights deal with are going to look sketchy like Paul.

 **Paul** suddenly appears looking annoyed: What's this about me looking sketchy.

All the boys look startled.

/~/~/

They traveled in silence. Raiden used the time to come up with some kind of idea for when he sees Karol. Though he wasn't sure what to say, he felt pretty confident that he could get Karol's blessing to continue his journey. They got Flynn's, one of the last people he thought would agree to this.

It seemed to take forever to finally reach the guild city since no one really talked, but they got there before dawn. They had stayed on the main road and they didn't have to worry about monsters, so they didn't even get to have that as a distraction. Paul hadn't had much to say and Raiden could tell that he wasn't in the mood.

It had been a few years since Raiden had seen Dahngrest. Not much had changed other than a gate over the bridge. In also looked like the guilds could pull the bridge up. Raiden wondered if it was in case war broke out. It saddened Raiden to see the bridge into the city like that and that Paul would have to talk with the guards about letting them in.

Raiden had mix feeling about the city. He remembered a lot of happy memories. But his dad was always in those memories. Raiden felt a bit silly for feeling like he should see him once they crossed the bridge. Raiden looked at his sister. Like always, he couldn't tell what she was thinking. She had to have been feeling the same.

Before Paul could talk when Shea suddenly said, "I'm afraid this is where we must part ways."

"What are you talking about?" Paul said. "I'm not about to let some kid wonder around guild territory."

"I thought you needed to get into the city," Raiden asked.

"I have a travel permit, so I'll be able to enter the city whenever I want," Shea explained. "But on our way here, I think we ran into a rare herb that will help make panacea bottles. It's going to be bugging me until I check it out for myself."

"Why didn't you say anything at the time?" Matthias asked. "We would have stopped."

"Sorry, I guess I just didn't want to slow you all down," Shea answered. "You all seemed like you were in a hurry." She glanced at Paul when she said that. Raiden could probably guess that Paul wouldn't have stopped just so Shea could investigate some plants.

"Still, there's no way we can just leave you-" Matthais started to say.

But Paul interrupted by say, "Fine, don't get eaten kid." He even tugged at Matthias' collar to get him to move. The knight wannabe was trying to offer protests, but the way he was stumbling over his own words, he was trying not to reveal who Shea really was. The two of them went over to the guards to get entry.

"Are you sure about this?" Raiden quickly asked. "You shouldn't worry about Paul, I'm sure I could get him to make a detour."

"Don't worry about," Shea said with a smile. "I'm grateful that I was able to travel you all this far. Besides, you have something you need to do, right?"

Raiden hadn't told Shea why he wanted to come to Dahngrest. Of course she hadn't told them of her reason for coming to the guild city. "I guess we both do, right?" Raiden commented.

Shea nodded.

Just then Raiden felt his sister nudge his side. "Come on," she said.

"I guess you all should get going," Shea told them.

"Right," Raiden muttered. He didn't feel comfortable leaving Shea. In fact he had actually been looking forward to traveling with her more. So he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that the wouldn't be traveling more together. "Good luck," Raiden told her.

"Let's go," Paul then called out. It looked like he got permission from the guards to let them all in.

Raiden looked back at Shea and the two of them exchanged small waves to each other. She turned around and started walking back into the woods. Raiden watched as she went on her way. Elena gently kicked him. "Come on," she told him again. He just hoped that Shea would be safe.

He turned toward the others and started walking into the city. The guild members at the gate were giving them skeptical looks. They were probably wondering who Matthias were. Raiden really wondered what Paul must have told them.

Matthias had a bewildered at seeing the city for the first time. But his legs where shaking as they walked across the bridge. In his mind, he was entering enemy territory. Raiden did believe that there were some guild members that would try something foolish and hurt Matthias because of the rising conflict. Raiden could remember Uncle Karol saying that there were a few guilds that believe in getting even rather than work for a compromise.

The city hadn't changed much since the last time Raiden had been here. The city was just as bustling as before. The market place was full of guild members.

"So where are we going?" Matthais asked Paul.

"To Brave Vesperia's base," Paul answered.

Raiden figured that would be where Paul took them. It was the moment of truth. Karol was the one he would need to convince for right now. He only had a little bit to come up with a defense.

Brave Vesperia's headquarters was in a large three story building. It had grown quite a bit from when Karol first purchased the building. There was a large sign over the front door with the name and emblem on it.

Paul walk up the stairs and opened the door which made a ringing noise. He motioned for Raiden to go first, which he did. Raiden had walked through that threshold. The childish part of his mind still thought he would see his father like so many times in the past. It still wasn't any easier.

There wasn't anyone in the main room other than an old, large dog laying on a mat. It looked almost like Repede other than having black paws and his once bright coat was turning grey. The dog was from Repede's first litter of pups and Yuri had left one of the them to Uncle Karol. His name was Captain. Raiden had always thought that was a weird name, but Uncle Karol said it had a story behind it.

Sable quickly padded over to Captain and playfully bit his ear. Captain gave her a low growl, but raised his head enough to give her a few licks. Sable was wagging her tail and giving happy barks at seeing her father. When Captain had some puppies, Yuri brought one home for Elena.

Elena of course went over to the dogs. Captain sniffed the air around Elena and started wagging his tail at her but it wasn't as enthusiastic as it should have. Captain was really getting old.

"I thought I heard a familiar bark," a deep voice said.

Raiden looked over and saw Uncle Karol walking out of his office. He was tall with short brown hair. Raiden knew that Karol had wished he'd grew up to be very muscular. He was maybe still on more of the slim side, but was bulky enough to carry his bag of heavy weapons. He wore baggy pants, a dark long sleeve shirt under a green vest that had Brave Vesperia's emblem on the back and front right corner. He even had a red kerchief tied around his neck and a big smile seeing them.

"Uncle Karol," Raiden said and hurried over to him. He hadn't realized how happy he would be to see him. He had even wrapped his arms around him.

He felt Karol pat his head. "How long has it been Raiden? I swear you've gotten taller."

Raiden took a step back. Rune had gotten closer and Karol put his hand on top of the young mage's head. "Rune, you've really shot up too. I was getting worried that Rita wasn't feeding you."

Rune's face was a bit red. He really hit a growth spurt in the last year. He'd been the subject of a lot of jokes from kids their age and even adults.

Karol looked over to Elena. "And Elena is getting as pretty as Estelle." Elena ignored that comment and kept her attention on the dogs. "And as cold as Yuri," Karol light joked.

Finally his eyes fell on Matthias. "And who is this?" He asked.

"I am an aspiring knight known as Matthias-" he started introducing.

"Oh, Flynn's son," Karol finished much to the chagrin of Matthias. Then he turned back to Raiden and Rune and asked, "So what do I owe to your visit?"

"These three ran away," Paul said blankly. Then pointed at Matthias, "And somehow got a knight's son involved."

"I see," Karol said. Then he patted both Rune and Raiden on the back. "Come on, you all must be hungry. I've got stew on."

He motioned them into the back where the kitchen and dinner table that could hold twenty people were. Raiden could smell the stew. He couldn't remember the last time he had Uncle Karol's cooking.

They all took a seat as Karol instructed while he and Elena fed the dogs first. Sable had quickly followed, but Captain was slow and went straight to another mat in the kitchen. Captain at his food while laying down. "Poor old Cap isn't doing so good," Karol said as he rubbed the dogs head. "He's going blind and I'm pretty sure he's got arthritis."

"Is there anything we can do?" Elena asked.

"He's just getting old," Karol told her. "No magic can fix that. Come on, help me serve the stew."

Elena kept looking at Captain, but did get up to help.

One by one, they each got a bowl of food. "Where are your kids?" Rune asked before he started eating.

"They're out helping some of the small merchants," Karol answered. "They wanted to help out with the guild and this merchant asked for some assistance. So I have them helping. They'll be here soon for dinner."

It would figure that Karol's kids would want to be guild members like their parents. But they were too little to do actual guild work. The oldest one was probably only eleven and the youngest being five.

"Is there a certain reason why you all have come to Dahngrest?" Karol asked.

Raiden was in the middle of chewing and couldn't get what he wanted out in time. Paul quickly answered. "I brought them here and we'll be shipping them back home in the morning," he said.

"What's the rush?" Karol asked. "I think just a couple of days wouldn't hurt."

"Karol, Ms. Estelle and Rita sent me to bring them home," Paul defended. "This is basically a guild job."

"And I'm sure Estelle and Rita will be fine knowing that the kids are in Dahngrest," Karol said calmly. "I'll send word to them tonight and in a couple of days we'll send them home."

Raiden quickly swallowed. "I would love to catch up with everyone here," Raiden added. This actually worked out better. He would have time to think of a way to continue their journey. He and Elena would have time to come up with a plan.

Of course Paul knew better. He knew why Raiden and the others were really up to. But he didn't say anything. He went on eating.

"Mr. Capel," Matthias suddenly spoke up. Raiden then realized that he hadn't touched his food yet. "I have something I would like to ask, if you don't mind."

"Call me Karol and you can," the leader of the guild said with a friendly smile. Karol probably like to keep things casual even when dealing with clients.

Matthias had a slight pause, then just went out and asked, "Is it really true that you turned down becoming one of the Five Master Guilds?"

He probably over heard it from Flynn. Shortly after relations between the guilds and the Empire turned worse, one of the Five Master Guilds dispended. Harry Whitehourse then asked Brave Vesperia if they would take their place. To everyone's surprise, maybe even to himself, Karol turned it down. It may have been the first time when a guild turned down being one of the Master Guilds. Raiden was curious about this as well.

Karol had an uneasy smile. "People thought I was crazy. My younger self would have been so mad. I had wanted to be the boss of a guild that helped protect this city, like the Don."

"Then why would you do that?" Matthias asked. "You'd really have a chance to run things and make a difference. Maybe even help with the anti-war movement." Raiden had overheard Flynn, Estelle, and even the Commandant talking how it would have helped their anti-war movement if Brave Vesperia was in control. The guild that ascended to the Five Master Guilds was one that was all for starting a war. Raiden couldn't remember what the guild's name was.

"But would I have really?" Karol then asked. "Being where I am now, I can see things I didn't when I was a kid. Brave Vesperia is respected enough to get plenty of jobs from high clients, but low enough that people with nothing can approach us. I know this guild has made a big difference in people's lives. And that's all I care about. That's what Brave Vesperia was formed for."

Matthias quickly stood up, knocking his chair back. "But we're on the verge of war. My father said that if you had joined in the Five Master guilds then we might not even have to worry about war."

"Just because Brave Vesperia would have the stance against conflict wouldn't have stopped other guilds from doing something stupid," Karol explained. "All it takes is one bad move. At least in this position, Brave Vesperia can stop it."

"Besides, the vote is one to three," Paul pointed out to Matthias. The guilds won't be officially declaring war anytime soon."

Matthias was quiet and fix his chair. It was a relief to hear that. It was clear the kids had only heard the adults worry rather than the actual political climate. Of course war could be started over something little at this point and the Empire could declare war at any moment.

"Where's the fifth vote?" Rune asked.

Karol gave a tired sigh. "The leader of the White Sentinels refuses to vote. He keeps saying he doesn't care what the guilds decide to do."

"I think he honestly wants a war but just doesn't want to be the one to vote for it," Paul added.

"My like he doesn't want to side with The Citizens of the Sea guild," Karol joked lightly. "The two leaders can't stand each other. Hayden, the leader of the White Sentinels actually asked me to reconsider when he heard Harry was going to asked them."

"Citizens of the Sea?" Matthias repeated. Of course his mother wouldn't educate him on the guilds.

"They're a sailing guild that specialize in both trading across the sea and fighting sea creatures," Elena recited.

"They're base is even out on sea," Paul added.

"So Altosk, Fortune's Market, and Soul Craft are all against starting a war," Rune recounted.

"That's right, of course there is a lot of pursue on Altosk to change their vote should the Empire shows any more disrespect to the Union," Karol went on to say.

Raiden had to say it was nice to finally hear these details. It was scary that war was close, but not as nearly hearing all these details. Maybe it was an oversimplification of the relations. At least Uncle Karol was talking to them like adults rather than avoid the question all together like his mother did.

Just then the back door that went directly to the kitchen. Two small girls with brown hair, one five and the other nine, ran through the door. They were laughing as they stopped in the kitchen to get their food. The older came out of the kitchen first running with a bowl of stew. The youngest was following close behind. "Walk girls," Karol called.

They just barely slowed down and got to the table while only spilling a little bit. The two girls only said a few hellos before digging into their food. They may have just thought their dad was doing some guild business.

"Girls, where's your older sister?" Karol asked his two youngest. The two of them just shrugged as they continued to pile food onto their plates. Karol stood up and looked at the two youngest kids. "Tamara was supposed to stay with you two, so where did she go?" He asked again. He voice was stern and not much louder.

The two girls stopped eating and the middle child finally spoke up. "Tammy got bored helping Mr. Smith, so she left."

"She left you?" Karol repeated.

"Yeah," the five-year-old started to say. "I think she wanted to do a bigger job."

There was a brief moment as Karol was taking in what they said. Then his eyes widened once he realized what they were talking about. "Tamara, you can't be serious," he called out of frustration. He looked like he was going to pull his hair.

"What's wrong Karol?" Paul asked.

"Tamara's run off to Kev Moc," Karol complained. "She overheard me talking to one of the members about a job in the forest. She begged me to do that job. But of course she couldn't do it."

Then Karol made a frustrated moan and was scratching the sides of his head. "Urgg, Tamara. When did you become so rebellious?"

 _Poor Uncle Karol_ , Raiden thought a bit amusedly.


	12. Chapter 12

...I don't know what happened. Everyone stay healthy.

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 12: Capel

"We can help," Raiden said as he quickly followed Karol and Paul.

Karol stopped by his office and pulled his large bag over his head before placing a hand on Raiden's shoulder. "I know and I appreciate that. But Kev Moc is dangerous. The monsters there aren't like the ones you fought on the road here," Karol told him.

Raiden instantly felt angry. Just a moment ago Karol was explaining to them about what would cause the war. He wasn't treating them like children. Now they were being treated like kids again. He didn't want to sit around and wait for the adults. Not again.

Karol saw this and quickly said, "I need someone here in case Tamara comes back and to make sure the other girls don't join their older sister. Besides, if anyone of you got hurt, I shudder to think what Estelle and Rita would do to me."

"Stay," Paul snapped as he rushed out.

Karol nodded in agreement before he rushed out to look for his daughter.

Raiden just stared at the door that Karol and Paul left out of. Was that all he was supposed to do, just wait? He was so tired of that of doing that. The whole purpose of this journey was to finally do something.

"We're still going, right?" Elena said after a moment of silence.

"Of course," Raiden said in agreement. Despite what Karol and Paul said, he was going to help look for Tamara. He just wished the adults could rely on them to at least help.

Rune let out a tired sigh. "Of course," he muttered. But he was standing pretty straight. Probably because his mother wouldn't hear about this. There was no way Uncle Karol would tell Rita that her son went into a dangerous forest.

"Wait, they told us not to," Matthias started to say. "They even said there were monsters that might be too dangerous for us."

"Not very knightly of you to ignore helping a little girl in trouble," Elena commented.

"V-very well," Matthias quickly said and even walked with Elena toward the door.

Raiden wanted to say that he'd have more respect for Matthias if he didn't play into Elena's hand. But he decided not to say anything. They were all in agreement to go after all.

Raiden looked back and saw the two youngest Capel girls looking at them. He knew it wasn't the best to just leave them here alone. But he was sure they wouldn't just follow them. Raiden was pretty sure they behaved more than Tamara if he was remembering correctly.

Raiden walked over them and the youngest one quickly said, "You all are going to look for sissy?"

"Yeah, can you two stay here and wait for us to return?" Raiden asked them.

"Sure, but I don't get why everyone is freaking out about Tammy," the middle one said. "She'll be fine."

Raiden remembered having that same kind of mindset with his father when he was her age. She must think her parents were undefeated. And it looked like Tamara was among them. "Uncle Karol is just being a dad," Raiden told them. "He just worries. We'll all come back in no time."

The youngest was easily convinced and tugged at her sister to go back into the kitchen to finish eating. They at least seemed like wouldn't wonder off.

As they were all starting to leave, Raiden could hear Captain give a warning bark. He must have thought they shouldn't either. But the old dog wouldn't be able to follow them.

/~/~/

 **Skit: Kev Moc's Ecosystem**

 **Rune** : We need to be careful. The monsters here are much more aggressive than the ones on the road.

 **Raiden** : Why's that?

 **Rune** : When this forest mutated to be overgrown like this so did the monsters. At the time, the monsters got aer sick that made them mutate into larger and more aggressive monsters. The ones that were left passed those traits off to the next generation.

 **Matthias** : So magic, magitech, and old blastia. Now you're a monster expert? I wouldn't have thought you'd be so well rounded at your age.

 **Rune** : I can't take all the credit for this. My mother makes me write reports on subjects I find boring or scary whenever Raiden and I get in trouble.

 **Elena** : Haven't you written so many papers that you could publish your own book on the ecosystems of monsters?

 **Rune** looking depressed: Yeah, but I don't want my primary research to be monster based.

 **Matthias** : Homework as punishment. I suppose for a parent, it's like killing two birds with one stone. But you don't strike me as a trouble maker to have warrant that much punishment.

 **Rune** looks over at Raiden.

 **Raiden** : C-come on, some of the things we got in trouble for was also your ideas. Like that time you wanted to study the old blastia old lady Crystal kept but she wouldn't even let you take a look at it.

 **Rune** : But you didn't have to have us break into her house after telling her that her cat was stuck in a tree.

 **Matthias** : Exactly how much trouble have you caused?

 **Elena** : He could write a book about how much trouble he's been in.

/~/~/

It was surprising that the guards would let them pass without so much a glance. Of course they might have a more difficult time coming back in the city. Maybe if they found Tamara first then it wouldn't be too bad. Raiden was even convinced that if they do happen to run into Uncle Karol they would still end up helping because Karol would not waste the time to bring them back to the city or trust them to go back on their own.

So either way they would be in the woods of Kev Moc to look for the young child. Of course now that they were in the overgrown forest, Raiden saw that it would be more difficult looking for a little girl. It was a shame they didn't have anything of Tamara's so Sable could sniff her out. The vegetation in this area had mutated to grow so large in their parents' youth. Raiden remembered the stories his mom told. But this was actually the first time he got to venture into this oversized forest. His dad had always said when he got bigger they would fight some monsters in Kev Moc together.

Raiden placed his hand on the sword's hilt. His father's sword. He even looked down at his wrist to see the blastia that his father once wore. He gave a small smile. _At least in this way we're still doing it together._

"You okay?" Elena suddenly asked.

It was enough to bring Raiden out of his thoughts and quickly nodded. "Yeah. Just reminiscing," he told her.

His sister just shrugged and walked on with Sable by her side.

"So where in the world should we even start?" Rune asked looking a bit down already.

"We'll just have to keep going in and call her name. That's the standard to looking for lost children," Matthias offered.

"I doubt Tamara would recognize our voices," Elena pointed out. "Besides, you all sound like creeps, why would she answer to you?"

"Excuse me, who exactly sounds like a creep?" Matthias snapped.

Raiden ignored them. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on ends. He quickly turned around but only saw the vegetation. He could have sworn that something was watching them. It couldn't have been a monster. It would just attack them. His next thought was more terrifying. Was it that clown Henry? He easily could have followed them and wanted to finish what he started.

"Come, on, we need to get moving," Raiden quickly said as he took the lead. The best thing would be to head back into town. But he didn't want to return without knowing that Tamara was okay. So the next thing was to keep moving. "We'll just keep our ears open. Surely an elven year old would make a lot of noise."

As overgrown as the forest was, there were a few clear paths. A lot of the paths involved walking on giant roots. It was growing dark, and there were several glowing plants. Rune added to this by using a spell that gave them a light source above their heads. It almost seemed like they were in another world.

They were high in a tree and Raiden looked down. The glowing plants made it easy to see the monsters below. But the plants themselves looked like they belonged in one of the fairy tales his mother read them.

"What's wrong Sable?" Raiden suddenly heard his sister say. He wasn't sure how, but he had missed hearing the dogs low warning growls.

Raiden put his hand on one of the sword's hilt. Rune quickly moved behind them and Raiden could hear him clap his hands together with the jingling of his charms. At the very least, the two of them know how to fight monsters together.

"What? What is it?" Matthias asked sounding startled.

Raiden shushed him and he could now clearly hear a buzzing. It was clear it there was an insect monster hiding in the branches. He wasn't sure why it was taking it's time to attack them, so Raiden took a few steps forward. However, when he did, the monster flew out of the brush. It was a large flying beetle that had a large horn on its head.

Thankfully he was quick enough to pivot out of the way to avoid its horn. He was just about to send out an arte while it had its back to him, when he noticed that Rune lost his foot. He must have been startled and moved back. Only there wasn't any place for his feet to land.

Rune was falling backwards to the forest floor below. Raiden couldn't even hear Rune's cries because he was shouting his name. Running to his friend, Raiden quickly cut down the monster bug. But he wasn't able to get to him in time.

He was only in time to see Rune disappearing in the brush underneath. They may have been high up, but surely it wasn't high enough to…

Raiden didn't finish the thought and was started to jump down. But Matthias stopped him by wrapping his arms around him.

"What is wrong with you?" Matthias demanded.

"Rune's down there," Raiden snap. "What if he's hurt?"

"You're just going to hurt yourself," Matthias told him.

"I'm not going to heal an idiot that jumps like that," Elena said plainly and she stepped toward the edge. "It won't matter to me. So we'll meet up further in the forest." And with that she stepped off.

Both Raiden and Matthias couldn't get any words out fast enough or move toward her. "Elena," Raiden shouted.

An agonizing minute passed before he heard Elena shouted back, "We're fine, go on."

Though he couldn't see them, it was a relief to hear his sister's voice. He was still very worried. But Elena wouldn't lie about their situation. So he just needed to hurry and find them.

"Come on Matthias," Raiden urged.

"Now we're looking for more people," he said dishearten. "How are we going to find them?"

Raiden glanced over a Sable. The dog looked impatient to get moving. Raiden had to admit that the dog was smarter than he thought. "They'll be easier to find."

/~/~/

"What do you mean you let them go to Dahngrest?" Rita snapped at Flynn. Estelle could see there was nothing she could do or say to calm her.

Although Estelle felt the same sickening feeling hearing that the kids, or to be more precise, Raiden and, surprisingly, Matthias snuck past the checkpoint in Heilord according to the knights Lady Scifo sent to retrieve her son.

"You know very well that Raiden would have gone even if I had told him to go home," Flynn said calmly. "At least this way they'd be encouraged to stay on the main, safer, roads rather than sneaking around to get where they want."

"If they're going to Dahngrest then it shouldn't be too much of an issue," Estelle offered. They sent Paul to get them. She was sure they would go to Karol. And if they were with Brave Vesperia, they were safe.

Estelle had replayed her last interaction with Raiden. She knew her son was up to something. It wasn't until Paul confirmed it for her. Raiden had overheard their talk about Yuri. Both Raiden and Elena deserved answers, but Estelle wasn't the who could provide them. The only thing she had regret over was that Raiden or Elena felt like they couldn't confide in her.

Rita relaxed slightly. She knew that the kids would be a safe in the guild city as any other place.

But that didn't work with Lady Lynne Scifo. "I can't believe what I'm hearing," she snapped. She was very pretty and dressed as a noble. Her skin was very fair and even had lovely blond hair. "They're going to the guild city. The very one that we're on the verge of war with. How dare you say my son will be safe there."

"Your own knights reported that Matthias was with Raiden and the others," Flynn tried to calm his wife down. "If he's with Raiden, I have every confidence that Matthias is perfectly safe in Dahngrest."

Estelle was happy to hear that about Raiden. He was a trouble maker, she couldn't deny that. But just like his father, he would do everything to protect those in front of him. That was what made her proud of him despite all the times she'd gone to his school or had to ground him.

"These are children," Lynne Scifo spat. "I don't trust children to protect my son. And what if the guilds find out who he is? What if they capture him? What would you do then?"

"Lady Scifo," Estelle tried to reassure. "I vouch for Karol and his guild. I'll even vouch for a few other guilds. Our children are in good hands. Paul will bring them back. So please don't worry until there is something to worry about."

"Your words mean nothing to me," Lynne snapped.

"That's enough," Flynn said sternly to her. "We've done all we can. We can't very well send a bunch of knights to the guild territory. Tensions are high enough and that may put Matthias in danger if we announce that he's a noble."

Lady Scifo was shaking her head in disbelief. "That's all you seem to care about."

Flynn went on. "Matthias went on his own will. He wasn't kidnapped or threatened. He left on his own."

She didn't seem to want to hear it. "If you won't do anything to get our son back, then I will," Lynne stated in a threatening manner as she stormed out of the room.

After she slammed the door behind her, Flynn fell into a chair and let out an exhausted sigh.

"Charming as ever," Rita muttered.

"Rita," Estelle said more out of habit. Rita has said much worse about Flynn's wife to Flynn directly.

"She worries about Matthias for the both of us," Flynn commented.

"Are you worried about him?" Estelle asked. Flynn stressed about enough things. She knew the kind of stress a child could add to that.

"Just that I've played a big part in sheltering him," Flynn admitted. "He's barely traveled outside the city."

"Look, the mage and scientist can still pass the boarder with much hassle because of the treaty to improve magitech," Rita said off handedly. "I could met them and make sure they get their asses back here."

Flynn chuckled at that. He was probably picturing the way Rita would get them back to the city. "No, I'm sure Karol and Paul will have them back soon enough. Besides, I do think this will be good for Matthias. I should have done more with the boy."

Just then a knight entered and stood at attention. "Sir Scifo," he said ready to give a report.

"We'll excuse ourselves," Estelle said with a nod to her old friend. Then she took Rita's arm to get her to leave.

"Don't work yourself up too much," Rita called back as they left.

Now that it was just the two of them in the hall, Rita let out a frustrated sound. "Those brats, when I get my hands on them…"

Estelle actually laughed a bit at her friend, which made Rita give her an annoyed look. "Should we really be surprised though? Runes the same age you were and I was even more sheltered than Matthias when we went on a dangerous journey with Yuri." Estelle sat down on a bench and couldn't help but smile as she thought about the past fondly.

"Things were different then," Rita said shaking her head. "Most of use didn't have people worrying about us."

"That's true. But we were traveling in the same political rocky relations and the monsters were worse than they ever were." Yes, war may be close, but the world in in balance and Ratatosk was able to maintain the monsters. People didn't fear them like they did. Veal had sent them reports on Ratatosk's being.

Estelle would always worry about her children. But she knew they would be safe on Tolbyccia. If they were to travel to Ilyccia though…Nothing would stop Estelle from going after them.

 _Yuri, you're still looking after them. Right?_ Estelle wondered as she looked out at the window.

/~/~/

"I'm pretty sure we've past this tree before," Matthias said.

"It's a tree," Raiden replied. An hour probably hadn't passed, but Raiden couldn't believe he would miss having Rune as a traveling partner in a creepy place. Matthias may not be as jumpy, but he was sure paranoid about weird things. Raiden was certain they would find the others despite Sable only whimpering every now and then. She hadn't found the scent yet.

"Look maybe we jumped into this without having a plan," Matthias started to say.

"I know, but a little girl is in danger," Raiden argued. "If we wasted time Tamara might get hurt."

"But instead we're separated," Matthias argued calmly. "No matter how much of a talented healer Elena is, she and Rune are probably still hurt pretty bad."

Raiden had to bite his tongue. Yes he was kicking himself that they got separated and that Rune fell. But Raiden knew they would be fine. He hadn't seen an injury his sister couldn't heal yet. He couldn't tell Matthias that though.

"I'll admit that we probably could have taken a few minutes to come up with a better plan," Raiden went ahead to admit. "But I don't see how that would have helped. It's not like doing that would guarantee we'd find Tamara any faster."

Almost as soon as he said that, they could hear someone running toward them from the brush. "I've got you now vial monster," a young voice shouted. It was followed by a little girl jumping out with large mallet. She landed not far from where Sable had been before she retreated behind Raiden and slamming the weapon on the ground. "Huh, where did the monster go?" The girl said once she realized she didn't hit anything. She was short with long, brown, baggy shorts and shirt with pink girly flowery design on it. Her hair was in pigtails but it looked like if she didn't her hair would be wild and sticking up. Lastly she had an oversized purple bag over her shoulder.

"What do you mean monster?" Matthias said sounding startled. He jumped at about the same time as the young girl did. "There wasn't a monster here."

The little girl tilted her head with a look of confusion. "But it was. I saw it. It was big and floating and had a big ugly face."

"I see that you're still seeing things, huh Tammy," Raiden commented. It had been a few years, but Raiden remembered Tamara always imagined seeing things when she was smaller. Her mother always said she had an over active imagination.

"I do not see things," Tamara started to pout and stomping her feet. "It was really here."

Matthias was rubbing his head, not quite following, said, "Well at least we've found her."

"Now we need to just find the others," Raiden said. Although he knew that it was pure luck that they ran into Tamara. "Tammy, do remember who I am, right?"

"Of course I know who you are," the little girl said. "You're Yuri's kid. You look just like him. But why are you here?" Tamara probably did know Yuri better. She saw him more than Raiden and whenever he did he didn't play with her much. She was so little at the time that the job fell on Elena. Although Elena always complained because Tamara had way too much energy and all Elena wanted to do was read. Maybe Raiden should have played with Tamara when they younger.

"Your father is out here looking for you," Matthias then

Tamara looked only slightly disappointed. "Man, I was hopping I'd find the monster by then," she complained.

"You're a child," Matthias declared matter of factly. "Did you really think you could fight a monster all by yourself?"

"I'm twelve," Tamara said standing her ground and looking at Matthias like he just insulted her. "Daddy was no older than I was when he started his own guild and was fighting monsters and bad guys."

"Exactly how much training have you had?" Matthias asked.

Raiden was about to tell him that he shouldn't argue with a child. One it didn't look to knightly. And two Raiden was sure Tamara would win on sheer willpower and stubbornness.

But it was just then that they heard and explosion. Raiden had fought monsters with Rune enough to recognize it as one of his bigger spells. He was both relieved that Rune was well enough to cast a high-level spell and worried for what would cause him to use it.

Sable was even barking toward the direction of the explosion. That only made Raiden lead toward the worried side. "Come on," Raiden said, nudging Tamara to follow. Thankfully Tamara wasn't rebellious as Elena, so she followed without any resistance.

Sable ran ahead of them and was barking like crazy. Raiden couldn't tell if she had found Elena's scent or if she was just going toward the danger. They had to climb over fallen trees. Somehow they managed to not lose track of the dog.

Soon they came upon an open spot with a lot of large bug monsters. In the middle wasn't only Elena and Rune, but Uncle Karol and Paul.

They weren't struggling. It only looked like they had to get rid of all the nuisances. That didn't stop Raiden from jumping in and cutting down the monsters to reach the others. Matthias was doing the same with his staff.

Karol and Paul noticed them, but didn't say anything as they were trying to get rid of the monsters as quick as possible. Rune was too busy casting his next spell to say anything. Elena did stop to pet Sable who was rejoiced to rejoin her master.

Raiden and Matthias didn't make much of a difference. They would have beaten back all the monsters themselves.

Karol dropped his weapon and ran to Tamara. He grabbed both of her arms and was looking hysterical. "Tamara, what the hell were you thinking coming out here by yourself?"

Tamara had that pout again. "Come on, I'm old enough to fight monsters just like you and mommy. I totally could have beaten by myself."

Karol just groaned. "Why do you girls take after your mother more?"

Raiden couldn't help but smile. It looked like Karol wasn't very good at disciplining. Raiden wouldn't have taken that tone with his mother, or father, and definitely not to Aunt Rita.

Just then Raiden felt a hand on top of his head. It was Paul and it wasn't the affectional kind. He was slightly squeezing his head and Raiden could feel his frustration. "You kids are just determined to make my life more difficult," he muttered angrily.

But Raiden couldn't help smiling. He had never gotten a chance to fight with Uncle Karol. And with his father's swords, it was like he had also gotten the chance to fight with him. So whatever punishment he would get, he'd gladly accept.


	13. Chapter 13

I'm still kicking everyone. Just a lot going on. So I hope to be able to write more so you all can enjoy it during this crazy time. Everyone stay healthy.

Read, review, enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 13: Guild Meeting**

The next morning Karol made a large breakfast spread for them. They were able to get back to the city with no problems and Karol sent them to bed as soon as they got back. The guild building had a lot of open beds for its members and guests.

Breakfast was fairly normal with the Capel family and Paul at the same table. It was like Tammy hadn't ran off into a dangerous forest the night before. Raiden was a bit interested to know what Uncle Karol would say. He couldn't imagine him scolding. It seemed strange to say since Karol was a guild leader, but he seemed too kind to scold or punish his own child. But he didn't say anything on the matter. Karol must have talked with Tamara last night.

"Matthias, this is your first time in Dahngrest, right?" Karol suddenly asked as they were nearing the end of their breakfast.

Matthias seemed started, he must have expected to stay quiet throughout breakfast. "Oh, yes. I've never been into a guild run city." Even before the rising conflicts, Matthias' mother probably wouldn't have let him anywhere near guilds. He had rarely left Aurnion at all. Raiden's father was probably the only guild member Matthias had met growing up.

"Then I think it'd be a good idea to take you on a tour of the city," Karol suggested. Then he looked at Raiden and the others, "It had been a few years since you all had been here. Things have changed a lot."

"Yeah, that sounds good," Raiden said. Seeing the city would bring back a lot of good memories. It'd also give Matthias an opportunity to learn more about guilds.

"Have fun with that," Paul then said as he stood up. "I've got some jobs to get done while I'm in the city."

"What a surprise," Elena began, "you're actually doing work."

Of course that got under Paul's skin. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm an important member of this guild."

"Then you should probably get started on that job then," Karol stated simply. Even he was aware of how Elena was skilled at getting to people.

Paul was still irritated at Elena. But he left without another word.

Karol then stood up in his usual happy demeanor. "Well, finish up so we can get going," he said cheerfully.

/~/~/

Karol sent his girls to school and they spent the whole morning wondering around the city. Though things were different, a lot of the streets were the same. Raiden remembered fondly when his dad would take him to a sweet shop. It was their secret from his mom. He wasn't supposed to ruin his dinner, and yet his dad would say it was okay to bend the rules a little bit.

Matthias acted like a fish out of water. It was clear that he'd rarely went anywhere without some sort of escort. In Heliord, he was trying really hard to pretend to be a knight. Raiden felt like he was starting to get a look into what Matthias' personality.

Of course if he ended up gawking at anything, Elena would end up making some snide comment. She did all of that without looking up from her book.

"If you think that's interesting, I'll have to show you the city's underground mural," Karol said after they finished their lunch.

"You mean the one that the guilds used as a secret underground tunnel to get the upper hand on the Empire?" Elena stated. Again, without looking up from her book.

"Yeah, Rune and Matthias hadn't had a chance to see yet," Karol told them. Raiden and Elena had seen it a few times. They turned the secret tunnel into sort of a museum for the next generation to see what they did during they're conflicts with the Empire. Before relations grew worse, it was to serve how far they had come. "It tells you all about how we became the Union."

"The Union," Matthias muttered.

"Rune, you really never went into the underground?" Raiden asked.

"Whenever mother and I came to Dahngrest, we always went to research guilds," Rune explained.

"Always research with Rita," Karol commented fondly.

Just as they were finishing up, someone ran toward them calling to Karol. Raiden didn't know who they were, but Karol did. He handed Karol a note before giving a small nod and running off. Karol looked at the note briefly before stuffing it in his pocket. "Sorry guys, change of plans. Some guilds are meeting together and I need to be there. Do you all mind going on your own?"

"No, but is everything okay?" Raiden asked.

"Of course," Karol reassured with a big smile. "Just some guild stuff a guild leader has to attend every now and then. I'll see you kids this evening and we'll make a big dinner. Stay out of trouble." Karol said. The last thing he said seemed like it was directed right at Raiden. Karol then walked off normally.

/~/~/

Karol Capel walked into the guild building and into a room at the side. He was immediately greeted by the president of Fortune's Market, Mary Kaufman. "Prompt as ever," she said. "Glad to see some things never change.

Renaud Tasse, leader of Soul Craft was there, as well as three other influential guild leaders in the Union. Renaud was an older man but still looked like he could work at a forge. "Did someone change their vote?" Karol asked. He kept calm after he had read the note Kaufman had sent him " _Important Meeting. Now."_ Was all it said. It could have meant all sorts of reasons. So he stayed calm until he heard.

The guild leaders that were in this room would gather for meetings like this for only one reason. To keep the guilds from starting a war.

"No, but something almost as concerning," Renaud said. "Two women called for a meeting with the Five Master Guilds this morning. Apparently, they're from that group that claimed Zaphias."

"They're even calling themselves the Sylvarant Kingdom," Kaufman added.

Karol absorbed this information. Of course he couldn't help but think about Yuri's death around that time this group came about. He really always thought they were just so large wannabe guild trying to make their own name. But no name had been given. Until now that is.

"So what did these women say?" One of the other guild leaders asked.

"They say they wanted their Empire known and to start trade," Kaufman said. "But I really think it was to establish that attacking them would be foolish."

"I guess you'll be having another meeting with them then," Karol asked her.

"Of course," Kaufman stated in her business tone. "I'd never turn down a profitable business deal. Plus it'll give me the chance to figure out more about them."

"I will say, the so called ambassador is a very strange woman," Renaud said. "I can't imagine what negotiating with her will be like."

"But a challenge is always the best," Kaufman said with a smile.

"What was Baylore's reaction to them?" Karol asked, meaning the guild leader of the Citizens of the Sea.

"Out at sea, thankfully," Renaud said. "We'll have time to formulate a strategy when dealing with him."

Just then the door opened up and all of them fell silent when they saw it was the leader of the White Sentinel Guild, Hayden. He still had dark hair and an expressionless face. But he was looking more like Alexei. It startled Karol just because he hadn't been expecting him.

"So you finally decided to show up," Renaud complained.

"Hayden, did you finally pick side?" Karol asked.

"I'm not picking a side until I have to," Hayden said. But Karol may have been one of the few that knew just why the White Sentinel's haven't cast their vote. Right now Harry, the Union Leader, didn't have to publicly cast a vote yet about war, even though most of the people knew what his views were. Regardless of what Harry voted, there was bound to be an uproar within the guilds. Some might even leave. Of course Hayden could have just sided with them and they wouldn't have to worry with a vote 3 to 1. But he must have his own reasons for that.

"Why are you here then?" Karol asked. This group was about getting more guilds to be against going to war. Karol didn't lie to Raiden and the others. There was plenty of safety space before the Union officially declares war. It was just best to keep working to their goal.

"Because I don't trust those women," Hayden answered as he leaned against the wall. "They're up to something and I have someone following them."

"Sounds like the current goal is to find their true goal then," Kaufman said.

"I'm sorry guild leaders," a young man with red hair suddenly exclaimed and stood up from his seat. "But I don't see why we have to have these secret meetings and spending all these resources preventing something that might not even happen. Also wouldn't be better for the Union to go to war? There is a lot of profit that could be gained from-"

He didn't finish it because Kaufman struck him in the head with her clipboard. "Sorry about my idiot son," she said casually. "I'm trying to teach so he can properly run Fortune's Market someday. I've got a long way to go, obviously." Her son instantly sat down with his cheeks matching his hair.

"On a technical level, you're not wrong," Renaud said. "After all, Soul Craft used to be Soul Smith. We made anything from our forges from everyday items to weapons for the Great War. When I officially became Guild Leader, I decided to make a clean slate and we would never make another weapon."

"And while that move faced initial financial and leadership loss, he was able to turn it around to remain as one of the Five Master Guilds and to even be a healthy competition with Fortune's Market," Kaufman went on to explain to her son who remained quiet.

"What is your read on these women?" Karol asked Hayden to get the conversation back on track.

"Weirdos," Hayden said. "But they are planning something."

"Nothing else? Just that they're weird," Karol commented and couldn't hide his disappointment in that.

"Trust me, you'd think the same thing," Hayden said.

"Just thinking about that woman…" Ranaud started to say. "But it's still hard to wrap my head around that there's now another group of people that have formed their own community."

"Where could these people have come from to make their own to rival the Empire and the Guilds?" Karol wondered.

"This could just be a bluff," Hayden suggested. "It was just those two women and it didn't seem like they had any hidden guards for such an important ambassador. Maybe they're really just a small group of people."

"But they were able to drive the Empire from most of Ilycica," Karol pointed out. That group all but destroyed Halure and almost got New Aspio if it wasn't for its natural defenses.

"It was mainly a surprise attack,' Hayden argued. "A well-coordinated attack like that threw the Empire off. They couldn't even properly assess the enemy."

"Certainly, that would be possible," Karol admitted. "But don't think it's the sole reason. They have to have numbers or something else." Karol had nothing to back it up. Just from what Estelle said when she had to escape with her children. And Yuri…

"Look, we can guess all we like," Kaufman interrupted. "But we can all agree that we need more information on them."

There were some nods and even Hayden agreed with that.

"Establishing trade business with them wouldn't be a bad way to do that," Renaud said. "Our goal is the same. But our number one goal is for the Union." At the last sentence, he stood up.

"Do you have somewhere else to be?" Hayden asked.

"I'm sure this has reached the ears of my guild members," Renaud said. "I'll need to do some damage control."

There wasn't a big divide among members of Soul Craft's ideas. There were a few that wanted to go back to making weapons and believe that weapon craft was the superior smithing skill. Nothing too serious for them to worry about. But it wouldn't hurt for Renaud to get a head on it with his guild.

"Are all of your meetings short like this?" Hayden asked.

"If we say yes, would you attend more?" Karol asked in a semi light tone.

Hayden didn't say anything. His head turned toward the door Renaud was at like he heard something. "Hold up," Hayden snapped at Renaud.

But the old smith was slow and had already opened the door some. The following happened so fast.

The door opened a little wider without Renaud's doing. The guild leader made a strange sound before falling to his knees and then falling against the wall.

For a split second, Karol was able to see a hooded figure with a mask holding a bloodied dagger where Renaud's throat had been. In the next blink, the assassin made a sharp turn and ran down the hall. Hayden was the quickest on his feet and out the door behind the assassin.

Karol was next. He didn't have his preferred weapon, but he did have his backup axe in his bag. He pulled it out as he entered the hall. The assassin wasn't in view, but there was some blood on the floor.

"I was able to throw a knife at his arm," Hayden said.

Karol looked back to the room. Kaufman and some other guild members were next to Renaud. But it was too late for him.

"Come on," Karol ordered as he hurried down the hall where the assassin headed. Hayden was right with him. There were so many questions in Karol's head over what just happened. But right now, he was only focused on getting the person that killed Renaud right in front of him.

/~/~/

Raiden led them to the mural in the underground. His mother had told them all about it. It was still hard for Raiden to imagine it was all once a part of the sewer system of Dahngrest. Some guild had worked hard to reconfigure the sewer system to separate the mural from it. Although there were rumors that you could still get to sewer to keep up that it was secret tunnel.

The paintings along the wall were done by local guild artists and historians depicting the Unions birth and becoming their own people. The art was something to see and told the story well enough. The Union leader, Harry Whitehorse, must have wanted to make sure this was well known to everyone in the city. These pictures told the stories of the people who weren't here anymore to tell their stories.

But the real reason to come to the underground tunnel was to see the oath. It was where the Don and the other Union founders wrote their oath as they were fighting the Empire.

Rune and Matthias were taking their time examining the murals on the wall. Both were silent for the most part. Raiden couldn't help but wonder what Matthias' opinion was on all of this. The Empire didn't go into great detail about the guilds fighting back to become their own independent state. Raiden, Elena, and Rune grew up hearing the stories from their parents. So was all of this brand new to Matthias?

Elena was reading her book, clearly board about seeing this again. Elena could certainly recite the whole thing.

They went around the corner to where the oath was written, when Raiden saw a familiar person standing in front of the oath. "Oanez?" Raiden blurted out.

Hearing her name, the strange woman turned to look. And at that, Raiden saw that her arm was in a sling now. He was a little bit afraid to ask how she got that. "Oh, Raiden, right?" She asked. She looked at them all and added, "There's one more of you than last time."

"This is Matthias," Raiden introduced, airing on the side of caution about giving his full name. "Matthias, this is Oanez, we met her at Aurnion."

"It's nice to meet you," Matthias started hesitantly. "But are you sure your okay ma'am? Those injuries look serious."

"You talking about my arm?" Oanez asked. While Raiden and the others were curious about this new injury, Matthias was clearly worried about everything else bandaged. "I was admiring the river around this city. I must have leaned too far because I ended up falling. I must have hit my arm on a rock or something. Oh it hurt so bad, I really thought I finally died. But then these hansom men pulled my out of the water and started to revive me. When I came to and saw them I immediately asked them if they'd drown me because they were just my type. But they just looked at me like I was crazy, can you believe it?"

Raiden had thought maybe he had exaggerated this aspect of Oanez. But it looked like this really was the type of person she was. With this being Matthias' first interaction with her, he was horrified and speechless. Raiden could tell he had so much he wanted to ask. But could get them out.

"What are you doing here in Dahngrest?" Rune asked to change the subject.

"I just had some business to conduct," Oanez said simply. "Also had to see this famous oath of the Union. This is pretty much where the Union began. As someone who likes stories, I had to visit this place."

"Pretty brave of you to come down here considering you have a fear of being buried alive," Elena commented. She still didn't look up from her book.

Before Raiden could scold her or apologize for the insensitive comment, Oanez gave a good-natured laugh. "Trust me, I'm ready to dash out of here the second I hear or feel any rumbling. But risks like this are worth it after all. This is the core of guild culture."

There was something about Oanez's tone. Was it mocking? Raiden couldn't tell.

Matthias walked closer so he could read the Union Oath "We offer our swords for freedom, our shields for friendship, and our lives for the common good. Here we renew our ancient oath," Matthias read out loud. He just looked at the words as he seemed to take in the words.

"Big words, huh?" Oanez commented about it. "If you think of the context for when they wrote this, they had some pretty big ideals while they were fighting off the Empire."

"Maybe they're not their words," Elena commented. "They talk about there being an oath before."

"Good catch," Oanez says. "So who do you think the oath was too?"

Elena didn't say anything, not necessarily because she didn't have the answer, but because she wasn't sure if she should answer. Their families told them about all their adventures. But it can still make them wonder how much they could share with people.

But they were soon all distracted by Sable's low growling. Oanez seemed to sense whatever the dog did. Raiden also turned around when Oanez did.

Standing not far behind them was a hooded figure. Raiden quickly noticed why Sable was growing. There was blood on the new person's arm.

And before any of them could say anything, the hooded figure ran so fast that they couldn't respond in time as the figure pulled out a knife and attacked Oanez.


End file.
